Anagnorisis : "Peripeteia"

The narrative these songs are woven around provides a more personal touch then most black metal band's allow themselves to create. There are no arctic wastelands or occult gibberish to hide behind. In some ways if it was not for the sonic storm cloud raging as this album's heart beat you might mistake this for hardcore.  The vocals keep their scathing snarl as a static coat of white noise to a similar effect as Deafheaven. Their approach to black metal is less atmospheric and the ambiance if of a more emotional nature. The riffs on the second part of " Disgust & Remorse" touch on a more traditional and almost thrashy side of black metal. It has a bigger more metallic sound to it. I doubt the sample at the end of this song is from the same family tapes as some of the other narratives.

A cleaner guitar tone opens up "5306 Morning side". The samples are put to good use on this one. There seems to be more laughter than kinda of personal issues that this album seems to suggest are lying under the surface. They have more elaborate arrangements than a black metal band who wants to hypnotize you with the white noise drone of their blast beats. By the third song , I get to get ready for the vocals to shift from the mid range rasp that is beginning to become monotone. There is two minutes of ambiance leading into "Night Skies Over Nothingness". Around the four minute mark their is a great deal of authority in the chugged riff that hits you in face.

The vocals shift into an angry chorus of possessed pigs when they come in on the title track. The atmosphere in the layers of guitar is very effective on this song and makes it a more powerful transition when they lock back into bigger riff. They eventually jam this out after the lyrics howl something about knowing himself with a black mirror for all to see and then a keyboard solo takes place. So they make good use of all the songs 11 minutes.  Some of the loathing in the album's mood reminds me of Nachtmystium. There are some oddly bright post- rock like chords leading into the blast of "Metamorphosis". The comes a guitar solo that rips into the song like something from "Comfortably Numb".

The album ends on a more melodic note with the acoustic guitar leading into "Transparent". This one also actual sung vocals. Things build back up into their more typical brand of black metal at about the two minute mark. I'll give this album a 9.5 and see how it grows on me. It is without question one of the better black metal albums I have come across recently and these guys have really stepped up their game when it comes to song writing.