Black Table : "Obelisk"

I am not sure I would clearly define this band from New York as being black metal. Blast beats do show up upon occasion, but are not the sole force propelling these songs, even when they are at their most raging. We have a dark hybrid of many styles meeting and none of them trying to be as cool as the other metal bands from New York work so hard at. Thanks to Billy Anderson this album sounds good. The production really complements the depth of their dynamics. They start off dark and dynamic then things get murkier going into "Helm" and I am a little less invested and unsure where one song is beginning and the other is ending. There are some decent melodic riffs that help provide a path for me to figure this out, but in some sense it seems like they are just jamming at this point. It almost feels more like sludge at this point that black metal. The guitar work going into "Shadow" reminds me of one to the calm before the storm lead in's that Metallic made famous and was later used by tons of thrash bands in the 90s.

At this point it time to address the tortured pig squeal to the vocals. Typically these are layered against a lower growl. I'll give this props as it is a different approach to vocals rather than the growls you have heard on hundreds of death metal albums. It might not be every one's taste, but I appreciate the inhuman quality it adds. The dark pulse of melody that makes this album unique continues to flow through "Gargantua". I would not say this is really a post -rock moment the band has but a crossroads where atmosphere and emotion meets the song in a very convincing manner.  They drop down into a more doom like simmer going into "Cromagnon". The vocals are whispered here and the song drips out of the corners of shadow to slowly congeal. Moving at a more deliberate pound like this the band finds new power in this more emotive assault. It also make when they do speed up into a blasty section more effective.

They build the tension while hammering you with a mean fucking riff on "Homo Ergaster". They back down and ride the bass riff. They get things a sonically heavy as it is heavy metal with a juciey coat of  darkness draping it , so all the basis are covered here. They also cover way more ground in one song than half of the bands who drag things out for fifteen droning minutes. I'll round this up to a 10 it's one of the more impressive metal releases I have heard recently.