I Shalt Become is a seminal project in the American Depressive Black Metal (DSBM) scene, founded by S. Holliman in 1995.
Emerging during the mid-90s USBM wave, the project pivoted away from the satanic themes of its contemporaries toward internal desolation and existential emptiness. The 1998/1999 demos, particularly 'In the Falling Snow', established a blueprint for the 'suicidal' black metal sound: slow tempos, buried vocals, and a heavy reliance on melancholic melody. After a long hiatus and the circulation of the 'Birkenau' bootleg, Holliman returned in 2008 to reclaim the legacy. Critically, the project is respected for its restraint; it avoids the melodrama often found in the genre, opting instead for a monolithic, atmospheric approach that borders on dark ambient. Despite past confusion regarding political associations, Holliman has explicitly distanced the work from all ideologies, framing it purely as an exploration of human pain. Its influence can be heard in the works of Xasthur and Leviathan, marking it as a cornerstone of the 'lonely' metal aesthetic.
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Shares despairing, post-metal, buried_in_mix, doom metal (signature)
Shares snowfall, winter, post-metal, doom metal (atmosphere)
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