Predatory Light : "s/t"

Here is the first full length from this West Coast based black metal band. They feature the guitarist from Ash Borer, but are a darker and more savage brand of the genre. "Laughing Wound" opens the album and proves to be less about the sonic wall of atmospheric sound that Ash Borer created and have more of a cavernous old school sound. They do not build their brand of black metal on blast beats alone, which is refreshing, but they have also fused doom and death metal into their sound so they are far from finding themselves relying on the conventions of the genre. "Lurid Hand" finds them closing in on a more conventional metal sound despite the guitar waltzing around the drums. Vocally they owe more to death metal.  So far my only complaint is when the drummer speeds up, it seems like his playing reverts to a more rudimentary approach. There is a cool creepy riff in the song's mid section.

They are more deliberate on "Path of Unbeing" until it storms off into the blast beats. The guitar dips into some angular acrobatics in places.It takes a minute for them to really get into " Divine Membrane". It feels more like a darker death metal song . They get creepier on "Sacrum" which has a doomier tone. I really like the guitar melody it opens with. When it blasts off into the tormented acceleration it loses the mood. It does return to this later in the song, but I wish there was more of this almost death rock presented here. the build from the slower throb of the more doom tinged riff into a blackened stomp is more organic on "Born of the Wrong Blood". I'll round this up to a 9 and seriously consider moving it over onto the iPod as it has a very dark mood, and some solid songwriting. No samples were available, the clip below will give you an idea what these guys are about.