Panopticon : "Songs of Hiraeth"

Rather than a new album, this is an album of songs that never made it onto albums, so for all practical purposes, this is a new album. It is new to our ears. Austin Lunn, the man behind this project, also released a companion album that was a bluegrass country mix, and I gave it a listen and decided I could just listen to country artists like Sturgill Simpson or Jason Isbell, who are capable of doing that better. The opening track to the metal album I decided to review opens with a different take on atmospheric black metal. When we hear that term, it often means it is going in a post-rock direction or going to be ambient synths setting the stage, but this is neither. It is hazy and electronic at times, one of the more original sounds I have heard from him.

The first three songs all sprawl out to the 10-minute mark. The second song is a more metal attack, with the kind of tremolo-picked guitars you want from black metal, though the drums sit buried by the wall of shimmering guitar and feel more programmed. I like the sonic ideas unfolding on the second song; it sounds like these demos were not given a great deal of post-production love. While this kind of raw treatment might help to create an authentic black metal vibe that works, it could have benn more impressive if these sounds were sharpened to their potential Similar could be said of 'the White Mountain View' it invokes that posr-rock feel I was talking about earlier, before busting into the full bore blast of black metal that is counter balance by sung vocals istting in the background. 

"Haunted America 2' does pretty well at finding its groove in the flurry of the blitzed attack. He continues to prove him self effective amid the blur of the storm that "the End is Drawing Near" brings. The production is even more reverb-heavy and haze-ridden for 'A Letter'. There are worthwhile melodic explorations in this, but the mix is so rough that they are not fully realized. The vocals try to cut through and are sometimes shouted through. The last song is another opaque one, thanks to the production. An Autumn For Crippled Children used to have similar challenges with production that sometimes added charm; this is taking the punch out of it. I will give this one an 8, and the reasons seem pretty clear. Though if you want atmospheric black metal that deviates from the normal expectatons of the term this is worth your time. 

pst394