There’s an old joke among the extreme metal crowd that goes something like this: “My sex life is like my black metal tastes.. a solo bedroom project.” Now it goes without saying that there are plenty of grimacing edgelords occupying the fringes of the genre (and the basements of their parents) who embody this description alarmingly well. Still, in the same breath, several stand-out acts in the ‘one-man-metal’ segment are undeniably its poster people: if not for sexual charisma, then at least for excellent musicianship. Obviously, there are the oldtimers, such as Jeff ‘Wrest’ Whitehead’s Leviathan or Scott ‘Malefic’ Connor’s Xasthur, but black metal is still spawning some remarkable up-and-comers, too. Consider the much-lauded (and deservedly so) Native American offerings of Blackbraid, one...