2. Woe
Current Release: Withdrawal Label: Candlelight Records Even after a solid debut in 2008s A Spell for the Death of Man, it was not until 2011's Quietly, Undramatically that Chris Grigg and Woe caught the world's attention. Putting Woe immediately atop the USBM scene that was reeling from the Liturgy backlash or saturated with basement level, one man suicidal acts looking to be the next Xasthur, the album was neither quiet nor undramatic. Instead, is was a burst of much need pure black metal into the post rock heavy and Cascadian drenched hues. And now, with Withrdrawal, the now full band has delivered yet another message to the self deprecating USBM scene by way of further experimentation, some clean vocals and a disregard of any strict adherence to scene, trend or name dropping. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYCrJGe70LA Woe is Woe and like nothing else in USBM. Like Krallice and Wolves in the Throwe Room before them, the bar is elevated far beyond the reach of others and sheathed in a creative malice that drips with Old school black metal venom, forged in a modern furnace and actual 'black' infused into the black metal. Throw in some punk sneer via Grigg's feral screams, and a deliciously prominent bass, and you get a harsh, complete melding of old versus new and it equals brilliance.