AKHLYS : "The Dreaming"

We come to this album which was released back in April to catch up on all the things we might have missed, this one has thus far appeared on a few end-of-the-year lists so it merited giving it a listen. Naas Alcameth who brought you Nightbringer blasts into this project after an extended intro of a minimalist atmosphere. The first phrase screamed as he dreamed. The darkness is very tangible on this album, but if not for the perfect timing of me clicking back onto their Bandcamp page then it would have just sounded like they sped up and grew more intense as the second song bleeds out of the first. The challenge with harsh growls is making sure the vocal patterns do not all sound the same. They use dissonant chords in a very similar way as well creating a monochrome blackness, that while is convincingly evil sounding also begins to all sound the same. It is impressive that something this fiendish sounding came out of America, whose black metal tends to be more punk-influenced. 

 The first of the two songs on this album that are over ten minutes and the album's longest it's apparent where the fat could have been trimmed in the mixing of 'Consummation" as its two minutes into before the tidal wave of double bass rolls in and the last two minutes of church music that sounds like it could have been lifted from a horror movie, that would have brought this down to twelve minutes. In this song, they create a sound that distinguishes this one from the previous blast fests. The rather angular guitar melody that echoes out in the verse adds to the hellish ambiance and the drummer really pays attention to detail and deviates from the kind of beats you would expect from black metal. Ten minutes in and the double bass is still going I am not sure if it justifies a ten-minute length much less six more minutes."The Dreaming Eye" finds this project descending back into blast beats and retreading ground we have already stomped across.

 Overall the idea of this album and the sounds we are giving to build this idea of what it could be if the songwriting was given more room to explore the bounds outside of the color by numbers black metal is better than what is the final result. It has plenty of moments, it is certainly dark enough and angry enough to please less discriminating fans of black metal, but if we are talking about the best metal or even black metal albums of the year this one is not in the same league. I'll give it a 6.5.

 

Catching Up with 2014: Night Bringer:"Ego Dominus Tuus"

This album came out in September and has been hyped ever since, so does it live up to the hype? This Colorado Springs band features member who have played with the whos of who of black metal. They are alumni of bands such as Demonacy, Kult ov Azazel, Sargeist, Enthroned, Lvcifyre, Corpus Christi and Necrosadist.The opening song hits you like a blur of fiends scowling and blast beats with a eerie melody way in the background. The vocals have a wide range of croaks and growl and the music does hold a sense of dramatics but black metal isn't being re-defined. These guys are very dark which is the first thing I respect about them.

They blast "Lantern of Eden's Night" by you at an ungodly speed, which I suppose is what a black metal band should do. They do have a big almost symphonic sound like old Dimmu, without all the strings, but it carries a similar bombast. I appreciate more as it slows into more of a triumphant procession. The vocals on more a scathing mid range scream. The lyrics are intelligible enough to understand when they say Lucifer . There is a jarring transition midway though , but the fact the maintain a similar velocity glosses this over. They continue on at the same pace, songs' like "Things That Are Naught" continues along a very "Stormblast"path. it might be darker and creepier, though less ambitious in some ways. "Things That Are Naught" is also the first song that really connected with me. By the time however it gets to the more deliberate pacing of "I am the Gateway" the blast beats are numbing me out.

Midway into the album it turns into the soundtrack to an exorcist movie. The sounds of the haunted ritual leak over into "Where Fire Never Dreamt of Man". An Emperor like carnival feel is draped over this song. the blast section is a wall of white noise with no real way to tell which i is up until it slows down. With a little more restraint I think these guys could write some pretty good songs. They continue to march on with the majestic murkiness of their blast beats. It pretty much smears "the Witchfires of Tubal Qayin" across your ears like a wet willie. Three and a half minutes in there is a redeeming melody.

After the long drawn out intro it will take more than a  clever title to make"Salvation is the Son of Leviathan" a good song. A synth drone and gurgle whispers, make this more of a filler interlude than an actual song. They close the album with the twelve plus minute opus " the Otherness of Being". It is a swathe of white noise with a guttural narrative rambling over it for the first three minutes before the real song kicks in. The feral demon screams rant and rave over the blasty mcnasty flowing like wine. The double bass drumming thundering over the guitar riff makes it a little more interesting than some of their attempts to do similar as it finds more sonic power in the way it is syncopated. The song does eventually race off and leave this behind. When it slows a hair the vocals have something better to howl over. This song ends up ending the album on a much higher note than expected.

This guys are really into what they are doing despite the hype there is not a hipster thing going on here. They do capture some good sounds and I like where they are coming from, the album just relies on much on blast beats and could use more focus in song writing. I'll round it up to a 7.5.
5