Since the genre first screamed to life from the frozen wastelands of Norway in the early 90s, black metal has accrued a number of stereotypes. There are the associations with church burnings, Satanism, shady political views and misanthropy. More benignly, there is the cartoonish image of ridiculous poseurs, dressed in corpse paint and running around forests. But in reality, some of the most transcendent and powerful contemporary guitar music bears a proudly blackened heart. Take the Faustian anthems of Polish titans Behemoth, who decimated South African clubs on their blasphemous world tour this year or the unabashed romanticism of California’s Deafheaven. The latter draw deeply from shoegaze, indie and post-rock guitar abuse, in which they are joined by artists like Agalloch, Wolves In The Throne Room, Panopticon and Cape Town’s own Wildernessking.
Since 2012, they have been making some of the most exciting guitar music to come out of South Africa. While many local rock bands are focused on making twee psychedelic, they are keeping it both fucking brutal and classy. Their series of releases to date include all the blast beats, screaming, solos and lyrics about morbidity and death you could hope for. But EPs like ……and The Night Swept Us Away and The Devil Within highlighted the melodic nuance and conceptual sophistication of Dylan Viljoen, Keenan Nathan Oakes, Jason Jardim and Jesse Navarre Vos.
The early releases have culminated in their first full length, this year’s Mystical Future. The song pushes its black metal core into directions that are both deeply personal and wildly cosmic. The songs highlight menacing vocals and apocalyptic burst of energy. This dance between melody and cacophony is similar to Godspeed You! Black Emperor at their best. People from outside of South Africa are noticing this powerful band, with sites like Noisey giving them major coverage. From their lair in the sun blasted tip of Africa, Wildnerssking are making music dark enough to envelop the globe.