When I think of blackened doom I must confess the first bands that thrust themselves into my mind are Xasthur, Nortt, Make A Change... Kill Yourself, etc. All the good depressive black metal that one could possibly think of. However, this was anything but that same overused sound. In fact this album is quite the reverse in every way possible. Yes, it contains many levels of cold depressive black metal. But rather than letting itself be confined within that they've added crushing amounts of sludge and death influence to create a truly thick and painful feeling.The first track started off with a voice over. And normally I really loathe voice overs in most music as almost always the band in question grabs a famous movie quote, or political figure speech that has questionable relevance to the song at hand and then tries to base the whole song around it somehow. However in this case the voice overs fit really well and didn't cause my mind to switch off to any degree. It wasn't even taken from anything so far as I knew. The whole album actually has many voice overs that interlace themselves throughout the songs and each one adds it's own piece of humanistic degradation. For example: 'You're an inhumane bunch of fucking living bastards and bitches and you're gonna get your asses nuked in the end.' This was one of the smaller, lesser voice overs at the start of the song "To Hieron." This is the kind of album that shows no respect towards it's listeners in order to create a very grungy feeling.
In fact, the longer this album went on through my playlist the more awed I was by how incredibly monolithic it was. With the incorporation of death and sludge metal into the mix of blackened doom, the voice overs, the lyrical content and atmosphere the album ended up with one bloody hell of a heavy, dirty, filthy sound that leaves you feeling as though your soul needs some good scrubbing before it could ever be considered clean again. The vocals are harsh and violently angry. They convey a pure sense of angst and vile desperation. During this the guitars and drums work together in a frenzied fury that leaves no opening for any peace of mind. In my opinion the two most outstanding tracks on this album would be "Boiled Angel, Buried With Leeches" and "Volcanic Birth." Both songs have an immediate and dark sensation to them that buries you in the purely disturbing thickness of this release.
Due to the sludge influence of this album there is a definite "core" feel to the album. But don't let that repulse you away from the release to any degree. If anything it adds to it making this quite a fresh sound for depressive black metal. There's plenty of blast beats and tremolo picking, chunky palm muting and fast leads to keep you entertained. Break downs are not a sound you'll find in here.
To wrap things up I have only this to say; this album truly, deeply impressed me. I have not been awed by a single release like this since I first listened to Anata's "The Infernal Depths of Hatred" or Shape of Despair's "Illusion's Play." Not that this release can honestly be compared to those in any way. It's not as melodic as "The Infernal Depths of Hatred" and it's not as atmospheric or honestly, even as depressing as "Illusion's Play." But the feel of the album itself was one of extreme impact. And it's not a feeling I will forget quickly.
Download@Mediafire
Band Merch
