Castevet: "Obsian"

Featuring the bass player from Krallice this New York band releases its second full length of very dense black-metal crossover. It's often hard for me to think of this album s death metal as the vocal lack shrieking and though there is the dissonant ambiance droning even in the thrashier brutality of the album nothing strikes meas being malevolent about their sound, pissed maybe. This is similar to how I feel about Krallice, but these guys are more enthralling than Krallice as they understand their playing must suit the song rather than just be the song.

"Cavernous" gets a little darker than the opener, but also ride the line between what is progressive death metal and what is black metal . The drummer is impressive he keeps a tribal swirl going with his rapid tom work. They strike a really good balance of letting the song breath while keeping a vice grip on the tension. The arrangement's flow really well.  It often strikes me like this is   the ambiance  tech death metal bands would like to do but can't fully realize, like the prog ending to "Cavernous".

The angular ugliness stays the course on " the Curve" , which is not as easy of a listen, as the turns in the riff are jarring before they slow down. The strummed chords ring out to a great effect than when the picking becomes a blur. When riff goes into a more straight forward race with the double bass it doesn't get interesting until the bass player finds a melody beneath it.

There is a cool melodic ring to "As Fathomed by Beggars and Victims" that reminds me of a less  folk tinged Agalloch. The song becomes a sonic trash compactor as it condenses before allowing a melodic burst out in the final minute. In the closing chug fest of "Seat of Severence" a clean vocal comes out as a surprising change. I think is is very effective dynamic, it's layered with a cool melody that reminds me of a less romantic Emperor. Sadly fans of heavier music ignorantly shun melodic singing, I think it allows the music to be heavier around it.This album is worth checking out, I'll give it a 9.