Top Five Ladies and Theys of Metal Albums 2021: Victory Over The Sun
Year-End Top 5
Here you have it, folks—it’s the end of the year (yikes!), which means it’s time for SLUG’s Top 5 Albums of 2021! This year, we’ve selected albums from a host of styles that have earned our applause. Wrap your hands around a mug of hot cocoa (or whatever sugar-free, dairy-free, organic substitute you’ve learned to love), get a fire started and let your eyes and ears feast on this fantastic recap of music greatness. Read more Top 5 reviews at SLUGMag.com.
- Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth
- Fire–Toolz – Eternal Home
- King Woman – Celestial Blues
- PUPIL SLICER – Mirrors
- Victory Over the Sun – Nowherer
Victory Over the Sun
Nowherer
COARSE AIR RECORDS
Street: 04.23
Victory Over the Sun = Liturgy x Succumb
A defiant remodel of Vivian Tylinska’s previous album as Victory Over the Sun, the queasy and dissonant A Tessitura of Transfiguration, her 2021 microtonal black metal project, Nowherer, is awash in newness and clarity. Tylinska achieves this in part through her multi-instrumental mastery, writing for custom-fretted guitars that lavish Nowherer. She also uses recordings void of excessive distortion, opening up the billows of her arrangements for a desolating landfall. Tylinska attacks from the onset of the opening title track, hammering her gnashing, crunching instrumentation to signify the album’s no-holds-barred journey. “Nowherer, battered, robbed of roads / Sequestered in cycle’s yoke,” she sings in a distant and pained performance. “God Howling in a Cage” offers up much-needed respite through misty arpeggios and layers of drones. Even in these early moments, Tylinska’s absolute vision of Nowherer is obvious, from the record’s pristine sequencing and pacing to her hairline understanding of every beat of orchestration. The album is universally complete and complementary. “Oscines,” the 21-minute closer, is as astonishing as it is bizarre. Bathed in walls of guitar, the black-metal composition is carried by grooveless drums crashing out in protest of the clanging progression. The vision and scope of Nowherer is a standout experience of the year, giving an avenue to rage at the disharmonies of the world through a bewitching showcase of metal ingenuity. –Aidan Croft