Metal and Electronic make for great bedfellows. Well, I suppose that depends upon whom you ask. Purists within the Electronic spheres of music don’t want their synthetic music “ruined” by organic instrumentation such as guitars. And yet live drumming, time and again, proves that artists who primarily rely on sampling benefit from acoustic instrumentation in a live setting. Adding a roaring guitar crunch to thudding beats just adds to the attitude and atmosphere. Well, the purists are in for a treat. To Mega Therion ( TO MEΓA ΘHPION - Greek for “The Great Beast”) is the brainchild of Tyler Viscerine, a frequent collaborator with the Powernoise outfit W.A.S.T.E. Shane Englefield of W.A.S.T.E. and Vuxnut saw fit to assist him in his endeavor and thus Black Noise entered the microgenre lexicon.

Borrowing the aesthetics of Black Metal’s dark spirituality, fascination with the Occult and Armageddon but eschewing the usage of guitar and blast beat percussion To Mega Therion are proving through limited live performances that they are a harrowing force with which to be reckoned. Just check out a clip of the duo performing “We Are Immortal” from their debut, The Blood Rituals:

It has the can-we-actually-dance-to-this? confusion of the rawest styles of music while compelling you to move in some fashion, if only because the energy possesses you like a turgid demon battling Tourette’s. There are no vocals, not even the distorted screaming typically found in Harsh/Terror EBM which often sounds exactly like the vocals on most Black Metal releases. There are, however, ominous samples that evoke doom and despair adding to the overall atmosphere.

Unfortunately the act were signed to the ill-fated Sistinas label and have been relegated to a cruel limbo ever since. Out of frustration they finally offered their debut for free earlier this year but are still working on a proper follow-up that will hopefully be picked up and distributed by a more competent organization. This is an act that deserves to be heard and we can only hope they pay a visit to our neck of the woods so we can enjoy the live presence of what appears to be a horrifically entertaining night of powerful, stompy noise.