Glass Coffin – “Haunted By The Ghosts of The Damned” – [Prison Tatt Records]

One-sided 12″ from the Kentucky-based Black Metal solo project of a one Mr. Josh Lay, released early 2012. Four tracks; the first three are ‘raw’ Black Metal; ultra-low-fi (think demo-quality), of average musicianship, and iridescently demonic– and the last is an ambient lullaby (sounds like vibes or synth) interspersed with the agony-screams of a murdered ghost, bringing to mind the ambient work of ‘Les Legions Noires’ acts like Belketre. ACTUALLY now that you mention it the whole record has an LLN feel, while also evoking fellow USBM europhiles Black Funeral, Krieg et al. This is particularly pronounced in the Mutiilation-style opening riff of A1, or in the folky Vlad-Tepes-esque flight of fancy halfway through A2. ‘Black Flame’ (A3, and no relation that I know of to last year’s Lil B mixtape) is the standout track to me: a graceful, ghoulish piece of orthodoxy, complete with dreamily austere tremolo-picked dirge-riff and J.L.’s vampiric vocals delivered fangs-deep into a shitty mic. No deviations from ‘cult’ tradition here, but a very good contemporary example of True Black Metal.