This band's last album was the number-one Black Metal album of 2021. This means expectations are high for them. They prove on the opening track they have more than enough weapons in their arsenal now to take these expectations on head first. Not shying from taking apart the conventions of black metal to re-shape them to their own liking, there is a brighter more organic sound to the guitars. "Arderlater" is a departure from black carrying an indie rock jangle that gets shifted towards the coming explosion of snarling dynamics. It almost feels more like screamo than black metal. This still works for me as I appreciate their ability to jerk themselves away from conventions.
This album was written with the entire band fleshing out ideas, so that carries over in this more organic flowing sound. "Godvormig Gat" gets caught up in the kind of stormy blast beats that mark most Black Metal bands. It does make it a little darker than the previous songs. The guitar tones leading into "Lichteter" almost sound more like the Smiths. This makes the cascading shimmer of the guitar that follows it have more in common with "Sunbather' era Deafheaven than not. They continue to use brighter cleaner guitar tones on "Gevoelsmens". More melancholy does creep into this one, as the blasting tempest consumes all sounds surrounding it, and the vocals fall deeper into the mix. The triumphant halftime section touches on themes more common in black-gaze.
The drumming on this album is impressive. The overall sound is less unique than what I recall from the last album, but in some ways, they have clearly grown as songwriters, as things flow in a very natural way, with post-rock sections seeming like the logical progression rather than a jarring shift. "Vinex" is a very bright blasting that gives way to more melodic chords to ring from it. They take this song in some really interesting places that make me alright without it having to be as dark and depressing as what I normally want from black metal. Things get more serious on the last song finds the album climaxing to a place with greater menace. It does get brighter and overall this album does not sound like these guys are from the Netherlands, this is music I have gotten accustomed to hearing from California, but they are still very effective at what they are doing. I will give this one a 9, meaning it comes close to measuring up to their last album which I also gave a 9 when I first reviewed but by the end of 2021 thought of it as a 9.5, so this album could grow on me as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment