Pa Vesh En – ‘Maniac Manifest’ [Album Review]

Some music is a positive delight to listen to, inspiring joy and wellbeing; other sources, like Belarusian solo project Pa Vesh En seem expressly designed to evoke terror, unease and despair. His most recent release, Maniac Manifest, is a case in point – bleak, desolate and nevertheless an utter triumph of the depressive suicidal black metal (DSBM) art form. Iron Bonehead should thank their stars this prolific and troubled artist graces their roster, delivering some of the most cathartic and complex paeans to melancholia the world has experienced. There are nods along the way to stalwarts of the genre, combining Lifelover’s absolute nihilism (album opener “Homicidal Sacrifice,” for example) with some rough-and-ready Dissection-esque riffing (“Chamber of the Rotten Flesh”) and flourishes of...

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