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Unsacred's New Split with Anicon Is Exactly What American Black Metal Needs

Stream the addictive new split from two of USBM's rising stars

The dudes behind NYC black metal outfit Anicon have been staying busy as sin lately, and for good reason: 2016 marks their biggest year yet, what with the release Exegeses, of their Gilead Media debut, a triumphant appearance at the inaugural Migration Festival, and an upcoming tour with Denver's Wayfarer. To add fuel to the fire, they're currently poised to release a new split with Richmond's Unsacred. We're streaming it below, and—spoiler alert—it fuckin' rules.

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The last we time heard from Unsacred was when they dropped their incredible 2014 debut LP, False Light, smack onto our unsuspecting heads. It's about time we got some new material out of them, and this new split for Forcefield Records features two short, snarling new tracks to balance out Anicon's longer, more epic composition, "Through Portals Shed." The two bands are a perfect fit, and represent two of the most compelling kinds of modern USBM—Anicon's frosty, malevolently complex creative impulses bleed beautifully in Unsacred's looser, more savage approach and d-beaten grooves. It makes sense that Forcefield, with its perennial eye to the underground, would be the label to pair them together, too.

Stream it below, and don't forget to grab it on wax come September 27.

Catch Anicon on tour with Wayfarer later this year:

11/05 – Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room*
11/06 – Chicago, IL @ Reggie's
11/07 – Detroit, MI @ Cellarmen's
11/08 – Toronto, ON @ Coalition
11/09 – Montreal, QC @ Piranha Bar
11/10 – Boston, MA @ Once
11/11 – Brooklyn, NY @ St Vitus
11/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ House Show
11/13 – Baltimore, MD @ The Depot
11/14 – Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter
11/15 – Atlanta, GA @ 529
11/16 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
11/17 – San Antonio, TX @ Hi Tone
11/18 – Austin, TX @ The Lost Well
11/19 – Dallas, TX @ TBA
11/20 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Snug Bar
11/21 – Denver, CO @ Rhinoceropolis
11/23 – Louisville, KY @ TBA ^
11/25 – Columbus, OH @ Spacebar ^
^ – Anicon only / * – Wayfarer only

Kim Kelly is friends with the Anicon dudes but ​would back their band hard even if she'd never met them; she's on Twitter​.