TRACK PREMIERE: Wall Painted Black - Funeralia

If you've had your nose to the fertile ground of the metal blog-o-sphere the past few days, you may have noticed a veritable flood of track premieres associated with the illustrious Akashic Envoy Records. And for good reason. In celebration of their 6 month existence, the label has put together a 3-cassette set containing no less than three hours of exclusive material, courtesy of the label's stacked roster. For those unfamiliar, Akashic Envoy tends to focus its attention on black metal, dark ambient, and dungeon synth--thus, each cassette is dedicated to one such subgenre. It's an ambitious affair, to be sure, but Transmissions from the Ætheric Plane delivers the attention to aesthetic and detail that we love, crave, and have come to expect within 6 short months. Transmissions, in short, is coming in hot. We're very pleased to present “Funeralia” by the mysterious Wall Painted Black below.

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The particular track featured here today--ripped from the 3rd cassette, which highlights dungeon synth--was a pretty obvious choice. I mean, we Villagers actually, y'know, have a dungeon, so that pretty much makes us authorities on the matter. Beyond vague association with our medieval architecture, however, Philadelphia's Wall Painted Black excels at breaking a dismal mood down to its base elements, and then rearranging the pieces to a remarkably evocative degree. “Funeralia” is a strained, crackling, and droning pseudo-electronic dirge, a simultaneously cavernous and claustrophobic affair. True to its name, it brings to mind a coffin-bound air of desolation and grief. To say this track is ominous is, alas, putting it lightly. While the simplistic elements are particularly effective, my favorite aspect of "Funeralia" are the chimes in the advanced stages, which add a certain levity to the track as a whole. Give “Funeralia” a well-deserved listen below...and check out those Akashic Envoy preorders while you're at it.

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Transmissions from the Ætheric Plane is comprised of:

Cassette I: Black Metal (Green + Blue Glitter Shells)
Includes: Crown of Asteria, Whore of Babylon, Chaînes Fantôme, Sar Nath, and seven other artists with forthcoming releases on AER.

Cassette II: Ambient/Noise (Green Glitter Shells)
Includes: Paolo Rocchi, Stroszek, Moon Curser, Catafalque, and six other artists.

Cassette III: Dungeon Synth (Silver Glitter Shells)
Includes: Erythrite Throne, Gronthor, Akerius, Francis Roberts, The IXth Key, and nine other artists.

The first run is limited to 25 copies, with 5 hand-numbered copies of each cover variant, and features cover images by one of five different artists. The set also includes an Akashic Envoy patch. PRE-ORDER it, and check out AKASHIC ENVOY RECORDS.
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Wall Painted Black can be found dungeon-crawling on Bandcamp.

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