SUICIDE AND THE REST OF YOUR KIND WILL FOLLOW

Dodsferd is a one-man black metal project from Greece, masterminded by one Nikos "Wrath" Spanakis. Why these black metal solo artists need both a band name and a pseudonym is a mystery, but never mind that. The point is, Suicide and the Rest of Your Kind Will Follow is a departure for Dodsferd, and indeed for black metal in general. It's not musically progressive, but it is ambitious within the self-imposed limitations of the genre. Spanakis' overdubbed guitars feature a high-pitched, stinging lead line that's laid atop a layer of fuzzed-out riffs closer in spirit to My Bloody Valentine or Ride than Mayhem or Marduk, and the drums beat out a slow, relentless, metronomic pattern, broken up by the occasional rudimentary fill that suggests programming rather than actual sticks and skins. All of this is relatively normal within black metal, particularly of the one-man-band variety, but compositions of the extraordinary length found on this CD are not. The opening title track passes the 20-minute mark with ease, its very length creating an oppressive fatalism in the listener. This is just gonna keep on happening, so you might as well lie back and take it, is the implication. The disc's second half, "His Veins Colored the Room," is possibly even more alienating and dissonant than the first track. The guitar hits high, arcing screeches reminiscent of Blind Idiot God axeman Andy Hawkins' work as Azonic on the Halo CD, and Spanakis' vocals become even more anguished and painful (to listen to and, presumably, to create) than before. The song's primary riff owes more to Flipper or the Melvins than Burzum or Immortal. This is an impressively hostile record, the work of a unique musical mind, and well worth investigating, even as someone's first experience with Dodsferd.