Full Album Stream: Avast – “Mother Culture”

“Blackgaze” has become a dirty word in many black metal circles, triggering cries of “hipster!” from the most kvlt among us. The most kvlt among us, then, will miss out on albums like Avast’s Mother Culture, the first proper full-length from the Norwegian outfit. Mother Culture is a relatively bright album, letting bright melodies and chords shimmer on top of and in contrast to blast beats and the shrieks of vocalist Hans Olaf.

There is, however, a sense of melancholy and sadness that pervades even the brightest parts of Mother Culture.

As Avast guitarist Trond Salte tells Decibel, “Mother Culture is the apocalyptic tale about the rise and fall of human civilization, and how we have exploited the earth’s resources to such a degree that we are now standing on the brink of our own extinction. Musically, the record borrows equally from the black metal and post-rock genres, and lyrically it draws inspiration from Daniel Quinn’s philosophical novel Ishmael.”

The album ends with the crushing closer “Man Belongs to the World,” perhaps the heaviest and darkest song on Mother Culture, which reminds the listener of the album’s main theme. Delve into Avast’s vision of a dark future below and pre-order the album through Dark Essence Records before its October 26 release.