In general, black metal is a harder sell than most other heavy music subgenres. It's more extreme in its musicality and vocals, opting for shrieking vocals that don't necessarily follow any rules for melody or rhythm. The guitars are dissonant and chilling, and the drums hold the song together but can sometimes be the same blast for several minutes without interruption. Done poorly, this could make for an excruciating experience. But done well, it can make for an engaging and enjoyable listen. Rejoice In Our Suffering is (thankfully) the latter.
The foundation of the album is built on traditional black metal sounds and ideas, of which you can find hearty doses in "Death of the Old Man," "Covetous Inebriation," and "Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!" These songs are harsh and abrasive, but not overbearing. Additionally, Suffering takes some opportunity to mix in some of his other musical influences. "Adamic Nature of Man" is an industrial interlude early in the album, and "A Reflective Walk" is a sort of haunting, ambient instrumental that bridges together two heavier tracks really well. You can even find the tiniest glimpses of metalcore - it's barely there, of course, but the guitar riffs of "The Weight of Unconfessed Sin" dip ever-so-slightly into that territory. Suffering really nails the amalgam of sounds and manages to keep the whole album to a nice, compact 35-ish minutes.
Much of the album is spent on the ideas of man's sin nature and the need for repentance. Full disclosure: the vocal style makes it difficult to really understand the lyrics, and Suffering isn't keen on publishing them, so the album's exact lyrical content isn't necessarily available. However, the summaries provided to this reviewer make it clear that the songs are deeply personal and very serious about certain sins. "A Desperate Prayer For Forgiveness" and "The Weight of Unconfessed Sin" both deal with crushing guilt and the burdens associated with non-repentance, while "Covetous Inebriation" and "Hate Polemic" tackle the subjects of the effects that hatred and jealousy have on our spirits. Again, the exact lyrics aren't available for inspection, but the subject matter is definitely as heavy as the music, and even general knowledge of each song's purpose accentuates the listening experience.
Rejoice In Our Suffering is an exciting and promising new entity in the heavy music world. Rejoice In Our Suffering is still likely a hard sell for most metal fans, but the blend of styles may make the album a bit more palatable - maybe even a good gateway album into the world of black metal. But if you're already a fan of bands like Within Thy Wounds, Fathomage, or Trebuchet SDG, this will make for an easy addition to your music library.
- Review date: 1/12/25, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com
Record Label: None
Album length: 10 tracks: 33 minutes, 41 seconds
Street Date: December 23, 2024
Buy It: Bandcamp
T. Suffering: I'll answer the second question first. I didn't initially have a pseudonym for this project, I just put, "T." after everything, then someone asked if they could refer to me as T. Suffering. I kept it. Plus, I'm a huge fan of Ninety Pound Wuss and when they asked, I had Jeff Suffering pop into my head and thought, "Yeah, that works."
As far as the name of the project goes, I've always had severe issues with clinical depression and anxiety. I'm sure other people have it much worse, but this project is largely based around my personal struggles with that in the context of being a Christian. In the past there have been times where I've locked myself in a room for 6 months and only left at night to eat and only communicated with my dog. These problems have also been dismissed as not having enough faith, or being weak as a Christian, which is complete malarkey. Baloney. Have you ever noticed the dark places and actions that you go to and undertake as a result of these problems? Maybe we shouldn't be so dismissive.
Even when I felt very far away in my personal relationship with Christ, I still continued studying the Bible. The chapters of Romans probably contain the most clear description of what salvation really is, and the whole thing tells us quite directly: This isn't going to be easy. However, it explains that good things come as a result of it. I try to keep that in mind when the lows get very low. Hope is a simple concept that runs deep.
Just holding on and being patient is important. I know that there is a straightforward meaning to all of this, but I've never been able to accept anything spiritual at face value. It can always go deeper. Rejoice In Our Suffering is about all of that and more. Hope and joy come with depression and existential torment, one doesn't balance out another or take another away, everything happens all at the same time.
T. Suffering: My musical tastes are so broad it's hard to answer this question. Even within the black metal parts of the project, I'm influenced by bands that don't approach anywhere close to the genre.
Inside of Christian music, my biggest influences are probably Blackhouse, Crimson Moonlight, Starflyer 59, Joy Electric, Five Iron Frenzy, Ninety Pound Wuss, Trebuchet SDG... The two biggest influences that actually caused me to start doing Christian black metal and being as experimental as I want to be with it were Eunagelion and a lot of the music released on Annihilated Pentagram Productions, because of how diverse and fearless they are with being unique and boldly honest. The scene on the surface is very homologous, then once you peel that layer back it gets insane, there's a whole world there.
Outside of Christian music, my favorite bands are Ulver, Softball (from Japan), Atari Teenage Riot, Boris, Guided by Voices, Kraftwerk, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Vinterriket, Paysage d'Hiver, there's just too many to list. Some of those might not be too crazy about influencing a Christian project...
T. Suffering: I've loosened up a bit on this primarily because I received so many inquiries about the lyrical themes and content on the last demo and the Self-Titled album. Partly, it was because they were personal and I was trying to keep listeners a little more at arm's length, and the other part of it is that I wasn't very confident in how well (or poorly) they were written. For the most part I like sparse lyrics that are often repeated with the goal of becoming part of the sonic landscape, so to speak. My lyrics aren't fantastic, to say the least, and they're written more to outline an idea most of the time.
I was really surprised and flattered at how many people were curious about the lyrics and wanted to know more about them and what they meant. I guess a few dozen isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, but to me...
They're influenced by Biblical passages directly, as well as what I've read about more controversial figures within the Christian faith. I'd rather not mention specific names, but it's not schadenfreude when I study the downfalls and failures of well known figures. None of us are perfect, and there are some good examples of imperfect tools being used to build up God's kingdom. Spiritual trauma is also a huge influence on the music and lyrics for it, and I believe it's an often overlooked and ignored part of being a Christian in our time.
T. Suffering: I've made music for years, but it was always secular and for the last 15 years or so it's been entirely electronic. I started out playing in local punk bands when I was around 13 and continued that through my very early 20's, then switched to electronic. To be blunt about it, I got tired of only making electronic music and picked up strings again.
While I was already writing music, I had some very personal events occur that brought me back around to Christ and my Christian faith. I wouldn't say I completely let go of it at any point, but there have been periods where it's been very muted, buried.
For Pentecostals, they would likely call the experiences that brought me back to this, "Baptism in the Holy Spirit." They happened in a very short period of time, maybe 3 months, during very deep periods of meditation and prayer, and then went away. I learned a new way to pay attention to how God speaks to us, and I really had no explanation or even a want to experience these things. I knew that what was happening couldn't have been entirely unique, but it was a very personalized thing. I had nothing to compare them to at all and they frightened me. I thought I was going nuts. Since then they've all happened fairly regularly, but I can't will them into existence, they seem to happen spontaneously and sometimes at the most inconvenient moments - even coming close to feeling like a curse. It's hard not to stand in the way of God's will sometimes.
For context, I was brought up in non-denominational and Baptist churches. Cessationists. I want to be clear that I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Cessationists, but because I was brought up in this way, I had nothing to compare these experiences to readily. Around the time they slowed down, my mentor entered my life and has since been discipling me. I still often question my experiences and wonder how much of it is me and how much of it isn't. Discernment is not simple.
The new angle I adopted for Bible study because of my mentor, the opening of another part of my mind and heart in regard to spiritual matters, all of that, led to Rejoice In Our Suffering being what it is to me. That's actually the heavily abridged version of what brought me around. I know that it all sounds pretentious, but at the core of the caveman-like black metal I produce is a very complicated and personal set of experiences and people that I use the project to help me understand.
T. Suffering: For now, yes. I have no explanation for why material is coming so quickly to me for this project, but I'm going to keep pouring everything into it until it slows down, which it will. I'm recording another album that will likely be a double album also and lean more toward the industrial and punk rock influences I've talked about, just more mixed than in the other albums. I also have split releases with Nightmare I Am and Eunagelion coming up.
I'd bet there are probably one or two other split releases happening by the end of 2025, but they're still in very early talks. That being said, if anyone wants to do a split, they should contact me. Splits are my favorite type of musical release and I have heaps of material to work with. I want this project to be on vinyl!!!
T. Suffering: I would love to play shows eventually, I really have no idea what a live show for this would look like. Loud, fast, and short, likely. Unlike my writing. It might be wishful thinking. I think it would be much more interesting to play the intense material than the slower ambient stuff. Though I've played shows in the past, my anxiety has grown with age and I don't know how likely it is that I can put it aside to scream in front of other people.
I am friends with a few guitarists who are much better musicians than I am; my friends Alex, Andrew, and Dewy come to mind in particular, and I would love to collaborate with them in some way. Maybe you'll see their names as guest musicians on some liner notes in the future.
T. Suffering: I've always been very clear that the project isn't a ministry. I think calling it such would be dishonest of me, however, more than one person has told me it helped them analyze their own experiences in relation to their faith and has provided comfort. How that is, I don't know, but I appreciate it.
I've been able to share my thoughts on Christ with people in a way that's reactive to them reaching out, and rather than the usual ridicule or snickering that it's met with, it's been a sincere exchange. Though the point of the project is cathartic for me, it's opened some doors to communicate with others spiritually and that's really a much greater reward than anything else could be, and since I expected nothing to come of it, it's the best creative experience I've ever had.
Whether directly or indirectly, if anything I do brings someone closer to Christ I'm thankful and I've accomplished more than I really set out to do with it, but I would also be kidding myself if I thought I could take any credit at all for that sort of event. I merely started the project to express what I get from meditations on the Word and on God and my own spirituality, the rest has flowed inward. God has seen it fit to send these people and their questions my way, and it forces me to look into a mirror and really think about how I'm going to respond. It's been nothing but love and all the things that come along with that, even when people disagree or are correcting me.
T. Suffering: I have no social media outside of my blog and the bandcamp page (https://rejoiceinoursuffering.bandcamp.com) - and I try to put the most listenable material I make up on all major streaming services. The more experimental stuff I try to make available to people who really want to hear that sort of thing on bandcamp. They can email me at rejoiceinoursuffering@gmail.com and I try to respond to everything in a meaningful way. Personally, I've always loved when artists get back to me and share a little bit of themselves when I ask them questions or just say hi, so I respond with what I would like to receive more often.
As a warning, this will result in a lot to read, so if you're not a reader...
T. Suffering: Just that I hope anyone that listens to and likes my project will go on to listen to some of the other more experimental and noisier projects within the scene. By no means do I even approach the level of talent and creativity within. There's nothing at all wrong with the big names that people associate with "Unblack" metal, but there's a completely ignored labyrinthine iceberg of genre-bending and defying sonics that screams just below the surface. Intense, emotional, angry, joyful, everything that goes beyond simply sounding cool. The more underground artists have a habit of putting it right in your face and it's amazing.
Jumping on Unblack Archives is a fantastic way to find out about these projects, from the polished to the horrendous sounding, from the angelic to the terrifying, and it's all there to glorify Christ and express unique perspectives that will make you analyze your own faith in new ways.
I'm sorry my answers are so long, but I've never been good at making things simple. If someone made it through all this, I pray they enjoyed it. Prayer is the most important thing we can do to strengthen our relationship with God. Finally, I love my wife more than I thought I could ever love another human being. That has nothing to do with the interview, but I know she's going to read this, and I want her to make me some brownies as a result.
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