מזמור - Yodh

I was fairly certain I was finished posting on this blog. I just lost all motivation to write about the albums I was enjoying.

But that changed when I heard Yodh by מזמור (anglicized as Mizmor). This album has completely consumed me these past couple weeks, and is the front-runner for my AOTY. It's so damn good.

My obsession really started back when I was one of the privileged few to witness Mizmor's first ever live performance at Migration Fest in Olympia, WA. To that point, I enjoyed the few Mizmor songs I'd heard on bandcamp, but one song really rose above the crop, the appropriately titled "I".

Mizmor opened his set with this song, and it turned out to be 15 minutes of some of the most expressive black metal I have ever seen performed live. I couldn't understand a word he was singing, but the pain and hope he expressed was palpable. He followed this song up with another 15 minute blast from his newly released Yodh. I was immediately hooked.

In addition to absolutely crushing and lifting my spirits in the same 30 minute span of his set, I was inspired to embark on my own journey; one I have never before attempted: I am going to grow my hair out.

Me soon.

OK, we all know I am not going to make it another inch before I decide to cut it for my job, but for now I am still holding on to this delusion that I could pull this off. This is the only picture I could find of A.L.N,, the sole member of Mizmor. But damn.

I want that hair.

Since seeing Mizmor's performance, I've been listening to Yodh on endless repeat, only taking a break once or twice to give the new Carly Rae Jepsen album a spin. (Sidenote: an album of B-Sides has no business being as good as Emotion Side B. Carly sounds like she's really buying into the sound she brought us on Emotion, and I can't wait to hear her forthcoming LP.)

Yodh is in a word: devastating. A.L.N. is a master of expression on this record, but the funny thing is that as I listen to it, I am not brought down to a level of deep depression. Instead, this album is surprisingly uplifting. There's something about hearing someone record their sadness so eloquently onto a record that is strangely comforting. 

The musicianship on this record is also second to none. These songs are each 10-15 minutes of blackened doom metal, which may seem like a dirge. But Mizmor is constantly changing tempo, changing theme, and most impressively, changing his vocals to keep these epics interesting throughout. There are times when A.L.N.'s voice is downright operatic in nature. I am constantly amazed by the vocal range this guy shows on this album.

Another reason I stopped writing on here is I have no idea how to end posts. So...

I LOVE THIS ALBUM THE END.