Misanthropic? Yes. Falls a Little Short, However.
avgvstvs | Omaha NE | 02/10/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"As I'm an immense fan of anything Wrest, (Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice) I was excited to dig my teeth into Xasthur from the dual discs that these two have pumped out. Right off the bat I'm treated to a funeral-dirge that slightly reminds me of some early out-of-tune Sabbath, culminating into a dark and ambient wash of guitars and noise.
The production quality is what jumps out at me the most on this album, and it really, really hurts it. I know that lo-fi recording techniques are the defacto standard for black metal acts, but most of this album sounds much more like it REALLY WAS recorded in Malefic's basement. In some rare instances this production quality gives way for some really beautifully dark ambient passages.
Right away, fans of Burzum--if you don't already know about Xasthur) should be right at home.
While I find plenty I do like on this record, much of it falls into some atonal categories that really make it sound more like Malefic just doesn't give a crap than supporting some artistic standard. Some of you might love it, but it doesn't hit me in quite the same way I was expecting it to."