The latest entry of the year comes from this Balkan black metal band. They weave an impressive atmosphere rather than going full blast in your face. The band's sophomore release finds them pretty assured in what they are doing. The choked rasp of the vocals is what grounds the first track in the genre, as it moves at an eerie creep. It's not until the second song that they gain the momentum, that sets them alongside what you typically expect from black metal. This does not mean it's better, it just conforms to what the average listener thinks of when it comes to the genre. There is a more metallic buzz to the guitars.
There's a new Youtube video in circulation showing that when you strip away the distortion from black metal you are basically playing surf-roc, which is what the song "Mesecina" brings to mind. The folk instrumentation that opened the album does resurface, while it is not the most original aspect of the bigger picture of the genre, it does help to break things up dynamically. Once you get midway into the album things have taken on the racing buzz, that is tried and true, this is thankfully broken up by a singing chant to at least add a more organic shade of shadow to the sonic swathe.
The tempo begins to charge into more of a familiar black metal fury, which then makes me listen for when they break away from sounding like everyone else and do their own thing. The rasp of the vocals conforms to expectations here. Some distant chanting surfaces to give a little ambiance. They do back off into a more droning ambiance, allowing the guitars to ring out as folk singing echoes out of the gray landscape the song paints. The drums hold things down enough to bob your head to its throb. These more deliberate nuanced guitar melodies are this band's strength. and hope to hear them lean more into them in the future. It beats when they just blast along like everyone else. I will give this album an 8.5 This album is being released by Osmose Productions.
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