Verwoed : "Bodemloos"

This Dutch black metal project is very dark. You would think this would go without saying when it comes to black metal, but blast beats alone do not make something dark. The guitar tone is very dismal and spooky. It's an album that went with the more murky production value and the gamble paid off. Unlike most black metal it moves at more of a pulsing throb than losing you in the blast. This album finds that ugly middle ground where doom meets black metal and they writhe together in the dark, though there is more negative emotional swirl than the kind of sorrow doom conveys. he pace picks up as the nasty murkiness swells up in intensity.With many forms of extreme metal, the next question is after the shock of oppressive heaviness fades after the first song then, what else can they do?

This question is answered by the project converging into some of the more conventional methods of black metal, bringing the blast beats with these . However after this outburst of anger things flow back into the darker more cerebral caverns of the sonic spectrum. "Leegte" closes the album with more atmosphere and a slower burn. The creepy factor is really amped up, more than the metal, almost to the point this could be considered more doom than black metal. You are bathed in atmosphere, but I would not go as far as calling it psychedelic. That would imply 60s keyboard and something for you to get high to. While it might be a good soundtrack for that sort of thing it seems to me as if this is searching into darker parts of the soul. If you are waiting for heaviness to brings things to an end I'll go ahead and spare you the wait...spoilers ahead. It never comes. But blasting the shit out of everything would have been to cut and paste so I can respect that.

This album , which feels more like an EP was nice mood music. I would like to hear more from this project, and see what happens as it expands from a one man band to a five piece and they take this show on the road. It might have it a little more punch and grit, but hopefully they will retain the atmosphere and the wonderful guitar tones this album captures. I'll give this one a 9.