Inside Noise Week of 12/1

The Rime of Memory by Panopticon

The rich culture of American folk music, especially Appalachian folk music, has inspired a huge variety of artists, but folk metal continues to be a particularly fruitful crossover genre. Panopticon, a folk black metal project by solo artist Austin Lunn is one of the most prominent in the scene, and his new album The Rime Of Memory celebrates both the beauty and the existential dread that closeness to nature can bring. When you really know a part of the land and watch it slowly decay and become barren, it’s like watching a loved one grow weaker with age and disease. Ruminating on these observations leads to the revelation that you too are caught up in this unstoppable cycle. The Rime of Memory captures these mournful moments through melancholic dark folk, steeped in memories of when there was still hope for the world. This too decays, as acoustic guitars become parasitized by thick distorted riffs and tortured vocalizations. Yet there is still beauty in the decomposition–church bells, melodic violins, and sorrowful choir adding a sense of drama to these funerary rites. Marching to the gallows with solemn surrender, Panopticon invites the listener to join the procession towards an inescapable and inevitable ending. 9/10 -Kalen