I love a good split—the weirder and more seemingly mismatched, the better. The one we're premiering here today actually makes a lot of sense—or at least, as much as any collaboration with the certifiably out-there, undeniably one-of-a-kind experimental black metal artist Botanist has any hopes of doing. California atmospheric black metal project Oskoreien more than holds its own here, tempering Botanist's stormy eclecticism with an unexpectedly harsh, electronically-inspired take on the ban's formerly far more atmospheric sound.The split is out October 15 via Avantgarde Music, and we're delighted to be streaming it below. Oskoreien's side spans two longer tracks—a raw, moody black metal cover of Placebo's "Without You I'm Nothing", and a heavily industrialized new one, "Deterministic Chaos" —while Botanist skitters and shines through five new hammered dulcimer compositions. At times Otrebor's work sounds manic, and at others is startlingly lovely (those tinkling "blastbeats" are so wonderfully twee, even supporting his guttural, hollow roars).Listen for yourself below, and pick up a copy here on October 15.
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Kim Kelly is keeping black metal weird on Twitter.