Did not know what to expect from this second album as the last thing I heard from them was covering Nick Cave. It is black metal. It is not hung up on blast beats either and has some melodic vocals thrown in here and there so I am a fan. It might get called black gaze this time around , but the intent is still pretty mean and hard driving depsite the sonic texturing that leans in that direction. It has a depressive sound , so pretty much everything I might want from Black Metal in 2020. Now can they hold my attention? The second song is not a huge departure, It is less depressive. There are some lower growls thrown in. But they still care about writing songs and are not just going for a sound that works
On "New Skin" they provide an example that often what separates something from being metal are the vocals, which are really the only big difference from what would make this feel more like Deafheaven. I have even argued the point that some of Deafheaven's albums are not metal at all. Which I stand by. They do throw in punches that ar heavier than what your average shoe gaze band would do. They continue down this path though perhaps a little darker and more melodic tone to the vocals on 'Spoonfed" , which. I am going to guess is about heroin. I like most songs about Heroin. I can hear a slight Nirvana feel to the song. When they kick back into metal on this album they still retain the more melodic shoe gaze elements and it's a really good balance.
They end things with the ten-minute title track. It encompasses all the things I love about depressive black metal
This album seems like it is shorter than it is. I get to the last song and am like
"Damn that is all we get ? 6 songs" But they are not 3-minute pop songs so it's still over forty minutes of music. It is just that damn good. It is one of those albums I am going to be wracking my brain over come end of November when I am making the end-of-the-year lists trying to decide if it is black metal or shoe gaze.
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