Band:	Negativa
Album:	04
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	January 2022

01. XXIII
02. XXIV
03. XXV
04. XXVI
05. XXVII
06. XXVIII
07. XXIX

"Eradicate your fallacies or suffer for eternity."

I became aware of Negativa mostly through their connections to Wormlust. Negativa started out as more of a duo between mastermind D.B. and vocalist D.R. of Atrabilis. However, the album I discovered them through was 2018's 03, which had Wormlust's HV Lyngdal on vocal duties. Later that same year, D.B. would come up with another project, Délirant, whose debut I really loved and that was released on Lyngdal's Mystískaos label. That one is also significant also because it was a completely solo D.B. venture, meaning they've also taken vocal duties, which would be the modus operandi for the other project they founded, Hässlig, and for Negativa as well. So here it is, the first completely solo Negativa album.

It is a bit weird to have three different projects by the same person, all of them being entirely their work, and all of them black metal. If Hässlig is more punky and direct, and Délirant is more psychedelic and nauseating. However it's a bit harder to make similar labeling of Negativa's music. It's still black metal that is extremely atmospheric and hypnotic, and certainly has more in common with Délirant than with Hässlig, without going to the same psychedelic lengths. This isn't a drawback, since this means it is D.B. doing what D.B. does best: sounding like the agonizing cries of a ghost through a portal. The hypnotic riffs and haunting vocals do most of the heavy lifting, but the bass and drum parts feel a bit more fleshed out than on earlier records.

Having came out at the same day as another Mystikaos goodie, 04 fits a pretty nice niche. At core, a very specific type of atmospheric black metal, but there's some sprinkles of DSBM and dissonant black metal, not enough to warrant any complicated genre labeling, but enough to make the sound a bit more compelling. The former work pretty well despite not being overt, giving the album harrowing emotional impact. There are plenty of riffs which have more impact than merely acting at atmosphere enhancers, even if that's their main focus. Even if the album is still pretty short at 40 minutes of runtime, it is surprisingly the longest Negativa record, and it's at this point where it feels like D.B. is in complete control of the craft, enough to create multiple projects alone, and to spew oppressive atmospheres, and make 04 the fullest Negativa record.

In a way, what I find most praiseworthy about Negativa's 04 is how they managed to make a black metal album that's depressive and harrowing, but not full of lament and melodrama. It drags you down, but you don't feel yourself actively corroding until you're already null.