Raw black metal, with strong dungeon synth inspiration seeping through, may be a beautiful phenomenon, but it is not without its pitfalls. The most obvious among these is the common perception of the tortured edgelord artist and the ‘kvlter than thou’ aphorisms that sprinkle what is an incongruously active social media presence, given its apparent disdain for anything to do with society or community. And, as much as I try to separate art from artist, this angst-y cry for attention tends to colour my perception of throwback black metal projects like The Eternal Melancholy of the Wampyre, the first full-length from Ecuador’s Wampyric Rites. Thankfully, this ain’t my first rodeo when it comes to the relatively new upsurge in second-wave black metal worship springing up from South America: the...
