Much has been written, and written with, the repetition at the base of second wave black metal. The sub-genre, or wave, or movements, or whatever you want to call it, was founded on the "fuck you" attitude that uses aural onslaught to gets its message across. At its core is the tremolo pick and the galloping riff, devices that served metal since it existed but were amplified to a whole new level with second wave black metal. When making music in this vein today then, the artist is faced with a problem: to where do we accelerate past second wave's acceleration? Or are we simply content to remain in their same speed, their same realm, and merely play with the alphabet that they left behind, forming the same old sentences?
JUNON answers this latter question with a resounding "no!" Instead, the project (some might say superproject, as it brings together artists from many different, German-based black metal groups) seizes the second wave riff by its throat and forces it into a golden, roiling, churning, occult, psychedelic machine. The Golden Citadel of the Astral Sphere, the follow up to their much lauded demo, ends up sounding just like its title - some sort of ascending, shining, glorious temple, broiling in occult energies. Musically, this is achieved not exactly by going faster but by expanding the sonic palette with which the second wave brush paints.
Nor does this exactly sound like other black metal groups who have turned to psychedelia for their inspiration. Instead, JUNON sounds entirely like themselves. You see, while there are "quieter", more "abstract" passages, that might more easily be associated with psychedelic music, the real impetus of the album lies in the heavier, black metal parts. It's really hard to pin down so I'll just send you to the seventh minute of the first track on the album, "Propheten der blauen Flamme". Listen to that guitar tone and how it "pings" with a thin, high-pitched voice. Listen as it is "inverted" almost to form the backbone of the whirling, bladed riff that follows. The drums amplify this whirlwind feeling, sweeping us in a storm of notes. But it doesn't "epic" like some black metal that spun off from the second wave. Nor is it atmospheric or progressive. It's something else; something strange. Off-kilter.
Then you add in the vocals and everything coalesces before you. The vocals run the gamut between hopeless screeches, full throated expressions of power, and coiling, beguiling spoken word passages. On this section of the first track, they harness the energies coming off of the main riff and the drums to stand triumphant, calling down fire and lightning from the heavens. Their edge, that laced, frenetic energy that makes them sound like they are going to catch fire at any minute, wraps up the psychedelic feeling of the track. With the vocals crowning the whole thing, JUNON sound otherworldly, witchy, like second wave black metal through a mirror not darkly, not brightly, but otherly, a weird vision of a black metal that sounds not quite like anything else. A black metal that sounds damn good.
The Golden Citadel of the Astral Sphere releases this Friday, May 15th, via (who else) I, Voidhanger Records. Click on through to the link above to pre-order it or approach your local ziggurat, dagger in hand, and pay for it in blood.