Even by metal standards, Jute Gyte have an unusual backstory. The catchall project of a plainspoken composition nerd from Missouri named Adam Kalmbach, JG have produced more than 20 albums during their roughly decade-long existence, most of them consisting of either black metal or dark electronic music. Kalmbach’s metal output has always been unsettling, but it has recently become substantially more so thanks to his acquisition of a microtonal guitar, which allows him to produce the kind of alien harmonies that are normally the realm of detuned pianos and other prepared instruments. Vast Chains is the apotheosis of this thread in Jute Gyte’s output to date. It’s tempting to focus on this album’s otherworldly guitar sound and various other unusual technical components, but its emotional charge is its most compelling feature. Many black metal acts address the idea that we’re on our own in a blind, hostile cosmos, but rarely does the horror feel so real. –Doug [LISTEN]