We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Volume I: Subradiant Architecture

by Obsidian Tongue

supported by
baudelagon
baudelagon thumbnail
baudelagon I'm not a fan of black metal but... with album like this I doubt on my taste... Full of invention, of very good musical instants. Never get bored... Favorite track: Moonroom.
Metallurgical Fire
Metallurgical Fire thumbnail
Metallurgical Fire It took me a while to give this a listen, but I have to say that it is one of my favorite intersections of traditional raw, atmospheric, and even progressive black metal. There’s a lot going on with this album, and it moves into various metal territories without losing its blackened foundations. It’s a great record. Favorite track: Becoming the Storm.
Wallow Within
Wallow Within thumbnail
Wallow Within Very balanced record overall. You'll find everthing on here that is usually to be expected in Black Metal. Except most bands do their thing pretty constantly while Obsidian Tongue mixes everything into one song. That of course can go wrong, but it doesn't in this case. It's a very diversified album that doesn't get boring as fast as others do.
more... more...
/
1.
2.
Through black fractals I fell portal to this lightless land Amongst the hunters lurking through the minds of man Agoraphobic clusters hath become the host for demons to dance among the vestal web of flesh Bound down in dreams by vapor lords The incarnate nurses these wanderers through a life-long string of dreams Timeless ritual for sustenance “You fall asleep, unaware of what surrounds you in the darkness. The dream world is the gateway. You fall asleep unaware!” He slithered in when they turned thoughts to chains locking heads to ground for heaven gaze Endure dreams of the blood lotus until there’s no deciphering line. Chains that once were thoughts become his reaches. ritual ripping through time. So cherished, the sustenance from blind men. Skeletons remain Infant promise slaked to serve the underworld. So cherished, the sustenance from blind men. Time moans on in the great field of harvesting. Hell-born lotus cultivates.
3.
Frozen leaves clustered in symmetry 'round the King laying against his Funeral Tree an ornate farewell to the supreme form of Self Before the roots become hands and take him in Wisdom smiles from his half closed eyes In this realm, it is my only light It has rained in this great hole left in me Thorns of hate wrap around the tomb of the progeny His final light shone a sequence of memories Moments that mustn't be forgotten The hiding of the whispering stones & the verses to be sung for the dead And I wept Wept for the violence of prophecy the loss of love and of memory The decrepit village wrapped in fear The goddesses that will disappear As the Soulless call "Crush them all!" I run to the secret place The lake in the dream state Looking for the stones Before shadow legions know The source of wisdom remains safe! Wept for the silence that would give way to the sound of life being swept away Blood will wash all trace of sovereignty What will this mortal war leave of me? The walls of spirit force suspending this primal realm ripped down by shadow arms only weakness will remain Only weakness will remain now
4.
Where torture hit soil, a forest now stands and therein lies a famished sect of man “Devoid of the will to conquer despair we fall to lethargy in the silence of cold airs When fear descends...none defend” Fevered spine Imperial Crooked posture marks our days Courage has been denied structure It dangles from the bones Blowing in the wind Strings of black flesh Hanging off a skeleton of disappointment Dreams of no light Landscape under the color code Dreams of no light Many graves but one name Ghost gasping brings an endless noise A vacuum sound-source from brittle jaw Its astoundment of itself As it crystallizes in decay Torture hit soil The forest rang for days With the call, the call The bitter search this way
5.
Impaled to the curse this forest's goddess cried when she was forgotten... "A famine on you, forsakers of spirit Look what you have done to me The sacred world rots now Distant as I am, A spiritual residue, I can still conjure the strength To place this curse on you" Impaled to the curse our dying goddess cried...
6.
After the fall from innocence, I bade my remaining honor to an Unknown Whirlwinds of unearthly screams spoke the name I had before the descent. Past life remembered Past plight restored The One Eye will behold life within the sorrow. Ancient threads will stream between my sullen human eyes Reborn now, and somehow, the sons and daughters of light Will learn of my reprieve into the Heart of Night “There is another plane on which the pentaform can be sustained Won’t you follow me through the archway, and don your skin with the waters of banished lore?” I cannot refuse I cannot resist The only way to honor my pain is following him Grinding down the towers of primordial misery Will the skeletal monolith be carried away by the eyes of my intention? Will the whispering stones edify me to transform these bones to gold? Wilting will becomes a gateway to ancient lands of tangled wood Trees shaped like humans suffering: Honor to the moments that made us complete… Is our weakness truly weak? Is our collapse truly a Loss? Crawling closer, through streams of tears and thorns of hate, The Shadow of Man nears the mouth of the Cavern of Absolution And shadows perform ceremony, through our misery We are instruments to the Invisible
7.
Moonroom 06:39
Live in night - perceive the rings beyond men lay for days until they all settle again forgetting flesh - awareness shifts to the trees lunar glow: surrender to unite with him I see my bones deatomize brain turns to gas and goes I fill the space with the rays Sustain this blessing Hades fires peripheral - I am between the plains Man again, forced to resume enemy form hope the equilibrium has changed did any detestable thought suffocate in the leaves? Never made it back inside, when the hole closed again? The moonroom needs kin to live on The lunar hum growing fainter now Thin now - life forms bridging beast and sky As a creator I have mere remains Was I born to bury phantom births of the Moonroom?? Conception marred by ancient order - the serpent deemed such unity unallowed With body as a chapel and mortal trials a sky I forge constellations with mummified remains
8.
Out of skull in a winter haze Shaman vapor cements once again to guide me through winds of escape I felt it first in the locking of my body frozen yet shifting a new life In Ice I'll return with a stone an alchemical piece of sky I died to obtain An antidote found only in the ether of blizzard greys This stone will rest on all our hearts in order to survive In Ice Transforming into something unknown Primal Ascent A union, a secret, a tradition Buried in ice

about

Their name illustrates the key principle that unites all of their songs into an expansive narrative of personal evolution through introspect, spiritual development and the incredible power of music. Obsidian is a pitch-black volcanic glass that is used traditionally to absorb negative energies, and encourage mental/spiritual clarity. Music is widely considered a universal language, and for band members Brendan James Hayter and Greg Murphy, their musical ritual is The Obsidian Tongue.

After 2 demos (2010 Demo and the 2011 Subradiant Architecture Demo), their debut album “Volume I: Subradiant Architecture” was recorded and mixed onto vintage tape machines in March 2012 at Mystic Valley Studio in Medford by Alex Garcia-Rivera. The sound is organic and raw, allowing the compositions to speak for themselves.

The record was graced with the artwork of Norwegian artist Namtaru, of “Namtaru Creations”. Her grayscale illustrations provide 3 key visuals to guide the listener through the musical journey. The connection between these 3 illustrations is left for the listener’s imagination to create.

Founding member and guitarist/vocalist Brendan James Hayter: “The first string of compositional attempts I made in the extreme metal style, naturally congealed into a 50 minute record named Volume I: Subradiant Architecture. These songs truly came together in a connected fashion, so it was only proper to call it a Volume. Furthermore, Subradiant Architecture is a term for the imaginary “Shadow World” that much of the music takes place in, the consistent closed-eye visuals this music has given me since I first began to explore it. It suggests that the gods designed and built this lightless realm in our psyche like a piece of architecture, for Man to explore the origins of his despair and draw wisdom and power from symbolic images. In this life such emotions as despair, anxiety, abhorrence for mankind, and the uncertainty of my fate both in this world and the next, have been my greatest guides. It is like a sense of duty to honor the evolution I have undergone through these chronic internal storms, and through the catharsis of extreme metal music.”

credits

released May 8, 2012

Brendan Hayter - Vocals, guitars
Greg Murphy - Drums

***

Hypnotic Dirge Records releases are available on Bandcamp for streaming and unrestricted digital download for free / by-donation. (All donations go towards physical releases and other label expenses)

Our philosophy is rooted in the principle of open-source and unlimited access!

license

tags

about

Hypnotic Dirge Records Amadora, Portugal

Hypnotic Dirge Records is an independent record label and webshop based in Saskatchewan, Canada and Lisbon, Portugal active since 2008. Our intention and raison d'être is to release quality expressive and eclectic art through aural manifestations.

contact / help

Contact Hypnotic Dirge Records

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Hypnotic Dirge Records recommends:

If you like Volume I: Subradiant Architecture, you may also like: