Subject To Change, Xasthur, LP

Blue-purple-white marble vinyl. On the ninth full-length with the tell-tale title of "Subject to Change", Xasthur took a musical leap of faith: Mastermind, multi-instrumentalist, and singer Scott Conner abandoned black metal as a form of musical expression for the time being, and turned to something stylistically rather comparable to acid folk and neofolk instead. Keeping the minimalistic approach of his previous albums, but embarking on a long journey through the dark underbelly of the American dream, Conner created his own brand of dark Americana. Xasthur were originally conceived by Scott Conner in California, USA in the year 1995. The project started out in the vein of bleak black metal in the tradition of the Nordic second wave. Over the course of nine albums and a host of split-singles, EPs, and occasional demos, Xasthur's individual, particularly depressive style became highly regarded within the extreme genre. In 2010, Scott announced the end of Xasthur and returned with an acoustic dark folk project under the banner of NOCTURNAL POISONING. In 2015, the American artist returned to the name Xasthur, but insisted that his black metal days were over. On his so far latest album, "Inevitably Dark", Xasthur have partly lifted the self-imposed ban on black metal, simply because Conner simply did like he felt.