Artist: Burr Hole
Country: The Netherlands
Label: Self-released
Formats: Cassette Tape
Year: 2025
At the time of writing, the identity of the two musicians behind Burr Hole remains hidden, but even without knowing that it is highly unlikely that they are rookies within the Dutch Black Metal scene. Not only because venturing into the roughest Black/Punk territories isn’t quite entry-level Black Metal, but even more so because the music on offer sounds ultimately sophisticated within the framework of the genre. Although that might sound like an oxymoron pur sang, listening to ‘Trepanation’ a few times will definitely help you to change your mind about that curious statement.
Black Metal and Punk are, by definition, musical styles that feed on a certain level of youthful energy and antics. So, by blending them together you might expect an explosion of power and unbridled purism. And with many of the bands that took on the challenge of rolling in this direction, that is indeed the case. But, as of late, a slight upturn in interest in the Black Metal/Punk amalgam showed that it is also a crossbreed that requires certain levels of song writing abilities. Just to put it mildly.
Burr Hole, hailing from some place in The Netherlands, clearly belongs to the better and most convincing bands in the contemporary Black/Punk movement. Although the Netherlands had some great acts to offer in this particular genre, most notably Haat, which established its name back in 1999, and more recently Thuehenti and especially Invunche, eyes have always been primarily on Norway’s Ildjarn and Akitsa and Bone Awl from Canada. Burr Hole in particular seems to be focusing on the bareboned sort of musical legacy of the latter. In fact, Burr Hole wears their musical inspiration proudly on their sleeves and added a cover of Bone Awl’s ‘Show Me’, the first track on the B-side of the iconic ‘Meaningless Leaning Mess’ album from 2007.
The up-beat rhythms, raw punchy guitars and the crude vocal delivery: ‘Trepanation’ has Bone Awl written all over it. Ildjarn might be the godfather of the genre, the Canadian tandem of Bone Awl and Akitsa put an extra prominent Punk-component to the music, giving the Ildjarn-concept a different twist: less folky and more in-your-face sort of evilness. Like a Garage Rock band on a bad trip. It is exactly that vibe that Burr Hole seem to have embraced like nothing else. If that sounds appealing to you and you have enjoyed the works of bands like Nihil Invocation, Kūka’ilimoku or Chevallier Skrog, you should not pass on this.
I just had another look, currently there are still 7 of the 13 copies of this cassette tape available – but surely not for long.
