Black Metal History Month- GORRCH : "Stillamentum"

Gorrch plays a dissonantly atmospheric style of black metal that holds chaos near to its heart as it lashes out from Northern Italy. Lots of magic is going on in Italy, where the Vatican is, which is a darker place than you might expect. The primary object of the first two songs is to hit you with dizzying intensity, use a buzzing tremolo that will cut through ice, and attack your ears with it. It feels like a mix of Blut Aus Nord and maybe Wormlust or Deathspell Omega, depending on which riffs you catch blazing by you. 

"Larvae' is when they begin to temper this and actually prove they can write songs with dynamic and thought behind it rather than just shake you with the vibration they are churning out of their instruments. All of the songs are over the five-minute mark, so they are losing track of time when they lock into these passages and just ride them out. "Crypt" is another wall of almost white noise coming at you. Sometimes the ringing guitar reminds me of old Liturgy. 

The vocals are rasped from a pianed and angry mid-range. "Angor" tremolos. The chanting buried at the edge of the mix is the coolest part of this song creating a darker color. The overall tone of the album is not all that dark when they get caught up in the buzz of momentum. The last song pretty much picks up with a similar guitar attack, and by this point, it's all a blur as the songs begin to sound alike without the little nuances.  I like how the accents shift away from the tension on this one. This song has more dynamics than the bulk of the album, even though at times they are more subtle than others. I will give this album an 8.5, as it's unique in its corner of the black metal spectrum. 

pst41