Gothtober - Light of the Morning Star : "Charnel Noir"

The second song is a dramatic step into restraint for the sake of an even darker melody. I might prefer the first song more as it is left to languish in the atmosphere less. Either way they are great when it comes to capturing the textures of sonic darkness in a manner than I believe and it is not all theater for the sake of fashion. Goth can sometimes mean becoming too melodramatic for your own good. They fall into this darkness on "Ghost Moon".  The melodies and the bones of the strong as not as strong as the more hooky melody that draws you in to "Hymn in Hemlock". I like this dissonant sonic wall of guitars they have when things kick in.

They go to an even more metallic place on "Lid of a Casket".  Instead of using harsh vocals they employ s whisper to create a less aggressive , but creepy static vocal over the more tense tremolo picked guitar that shows their black metal influence, though I would not say this is a black metal song.  They come back as much stronger song writers on "There are Many Shadows" that retains the darkness while adding dynamics and something more in terms of a groove to draw you in. A great deal of this rests on the drums. The drums keep things moving in a more effective direction on "the Endless Procession of the Guillotine" They keep the streak going with "Spectres"  , the guitar joining the drums to drive things while a simple keyboard melody provides just enough hook for the morose croak of the vocals to work again. Once more dissonance proves to be their friend. 

The last song "Fangs in the Tree of Life" is murky than the previous song though it could use more hints of melody to break up the dense brooding. Perhaps the cavernous production that makes it echo more like a black metal album and less like the bat cave  can make this sound too dark for it's own good. Like pitch black to the point of not being able to see where they are going. Sometimes this gives more of a droning , feel. A candle of melody is often all this album needs, when that is lit to break up there murk the songs have a more tangible path. With that said the sounds are amazing to be this dark in the first place so that alone makes this album a 9.  

Light of the Morning Star : "Nocta"

Pretty excited to wrap my ears around the debut full length by this band whose three song ep really did it for me. It kicks off very much where they left off and then "Coffinwood" shows some variance in that formula, they bang over a more post-rock variation of familiar territory . There is more of a hard rock crunch to what they are doing here , but the vast empty passages of morose creepiness are still in tact.One you are rocked into the upbeat "Serpent Lanterns" you feel like this is with an all too comfortable scope of what these guys do and then I began to wonder if the first ep was so strong because you were a small enough dose so the originality seems more novel .This opened the door to speculation in my mind if these guys could keep up the momentum of an entire album. Things improve on the darker "Grey Carriages". This one allows it self more breathing room.

The baritone vocals are a little lest crooned in a more dramatic murmur. This album feels more overtly metal in it's aggressive drive. I like the  production though the drums are a little dry compare to the rest of the instrumentation, the mix is weird in some places. "Oleander Halo" just doesn't haven't anything that really hook me in until the dreary chorus. The songs have begun to become a little too uniform at this point in the album. This full length has a much more up beat hammering to many of the songs, it works best when that is just on piece of the bigger picture and "Ophidian" really demonstrates this best. The bass provides more of the back bone rather than just sounding like more mainstream rock.

Things get more dismal for "Lord of All Graves". This song is better constructed than the bulk off the album and the vocals have more purpose.  There is a more melodic sense to "Five Point Star" , but it really doesn't go any where, though the sounds it draws upon are pleasing. My expectations were pretty high, so I am not sure what I expected going into this , but I wanted something that hit me with the magnitude of the first ep , But taking this album for what it is, they still deliver something I like but it lacks the wow factor, so I'll give it an 8.

 

Light of the Morning Star : "Cemetery Glow"

This has been sitting in my in-box, but this is the first chance I have gotten to check this album out. The vocals win me over right way. Is it very similar to new Tombs. Yes, but the goth thing is pushed even further to the forefront here. The guitars are playing too fast to be doom. It's droning but not black metal. The cold baritone croon of the vocals doesn't vary much, but it is so cool that I don't really give a shit. They go even further into the darkness as things get really creeped out for the final song"Wraith" it slows into a more deliberate pound that hangs onto to become more of a throb. The album has a nocturnal pulse. These three songs impressed the hell out of me even though this is not what I thought it would be. This owes as much to My Dying Bride as it does Tombs. The vocals never go into any kind of harshness. I can appreciate that fact.

The melodrama is not too overblown. I never feel the dude singing it, has his long curly locks of black hair blowing in the wind with a partially unbuttoned Victorian shirt on.Dynamically the opener starts off at more of a slow burn and gains momentum. Lyrically lines like 'we are the walking graves, we are the bleeding knife" makes no secret they are going for the after midnight crowd here. At first listen the songs all have a very similar vibe so going in for repeat listens I was looking for what makes them stand apart from one another. I think there is more drive to "Black Throne Ascension". Being impressed on my first listen is a good thing, but it makes me want to go back and listen to it more objectively. Production wise this album is well done. It has a big loud sound rather than suffering from being set back into the distance with re-verb in order to get an 80s sound.I will give this one a 9 since I have been impressed by it, but haven't gone the extra mile since discovering to get it into my iPod, if it was a 10 I would be more pressed to do so. Perhaps when a proper full length is released and I get to hear a wider range of what this project can do I will feel so inclined.