Xasthur
Xasthur once defined lo-fi US black metal: hissing guitars, buried keyboards, and songs about despair and darkness rather than Satan or paganism. Since 2015 it has been an acoustic project, dark folk shading into blues, country and heavy rock, and still bleak by design. Its founder calls the songs mirror-oriented, a way to get things out of his system, and refuses to model himself on anyone else. The bar is whether it's “dark and unusual enough.”
“A black metal legend reborn as dark folk, playing a worker-owned metal bar.”
- Wed, Sep 30, 2026The Heavy Culture Cooperative, Easthampton, MA
With Temple of the Fuzz Witch, Compress.
Sources (3)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xasthur
Project history, the 2010 end and the 2015 acoustic return. - https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2023/08/21/interview-xasthurs-scott-conner-on-redefining-black-metal-influence-with-inevitably-dark/
Conner on the project's direction. - https://kronosmortusnews.com/2026/01/28/xasthur-announce-european-tour-2026/
Recent touring as an acoustic project.