TRACK PREMIERE: HEAR MRTVI CHANNEL THE ABYSS ON “NEGATIVE ATONAL DISSONANCE”

The UK/Serbian MRTVI describes itself as a “one-man black metal project concerned with exploring the negative dissonance and atonality of the aural and emotional spectrum,” secured the Facebook URL “/sustainedthroughdeath,” and has whittled its about section to a single Tolstoy quote: “I could not even wish to know the truth, for I guess of what it consisted. The truth was that life is meaningless” — which is a pretty steep goddamn self-created mountain of malcontent to scale. And yet “Negative Atonal Dissonance” — the long, dark sonic journey streamed exclusively below from the album of the same name out July 30 via Transcending Obscurity — manages to accomplish just that.

Negative Atonal Dissonance is not an album,” the band writes Decibel. “It is a statement, a philosophy, an experiment; a rejection and reaction to the current trends within the mainstream and underground alike. Extreme metal has painted itself into a corner. Production values that serve no other purpose other than to sound recognizable and palatable. Arrangements, rhythms and harmonies that are more concerned with being identifiable and ‘viable’ than with originality. In an infinite universe, music is endless; a spectrum of emotion, of atmosphere, a vibrational connection running through and joining all frequencies; a spiritual, meditative practice, a dream and a nightmare connecting the creation with the creative force…”