It was a grueling and arduous journey, but we've made it, boys: the final regular Terminus episode of the year. We're a year and a half into our Sisyphean task of destroying metal jounalism, but before we provide The Only Year End List That Matters, we've got a few more records to cover. Our opening segment this time is dedicated to Serpent Rider, a new epic doom (or maybe reverb-drenched NWOBHM) project submitted by Brandon Corsair. We discuss the distinct fusion of Pagan Altar and speed metal on a handful of tracks taken from their split with Ezra Brooks- not the sort of thing we usually cover, but a great source of discussion with some solid riffs to boot.
Our first record of the night comes in the form of a surprise new release by Funeral Mist, a stalwart orthodox black metal project that has in some ways become more obscure over time. This one is an immediate hit with us- it's unique and individual while still being well rounded and polished, with rigorous structure and off-the-cuff ferocity working in perfect tandem. This leads to a fruitful discussion centering on the concept of orthodox black metal itself: is Funeral Mist really part of it? Is it a term with meaning anymore? Does anyone except old people like us even remember it!?
Wrapping up our year of new releases is the newest record by Pantheist, a long running funeral doom project well known within the genre but rarely discussed outside of it. Pantheist is an oddity even within funeral doom's oddity-centered world: a band with a prog rock heart lurking underneath all its low'n'slow rumblings. Have you ever wanted to hear Genesis at 50 BPM? As absurd a description as it may be, it's actually not too far off from the reality. Within this review, a question: what will be remembered as this era's greatest Covid Album?
 
0:00:00 - Intro ft. Serpent Rider
0:29:40 - Funeral Mist - Deiform (NoEvDia)
1:25:08 - Interlude - Ondskapt - “Revelations of Another Time” fr. Dödens evangelium (Next Horizon Records/Ajna Offensive/NoEvDia, 2005)
1:31:38 - Pantheist - Closer to God (Melancholic Realm Productions)
2:16:09 - Outro - Darkflight - “Distant Pain” fr. Perfectly Calm (Ars Magna Recordings, 2008) (Out of print and not on Bandcamp, but available on streaming services and readily available used and from some underground distros. The link is to an instance of the latter.)
 
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