Hivelords : " Tapered Limbs of a Human Star"

One of the first things I thought about this Philly based band is that they have a slight Atriarch thing going on as the vocals start off sung in a more moaning tone than screamed. They are very dark, and would be black metal more often than not, so they doom side Atriarch has is not present, They vocals which are the most interesting part go back and forth between the more typical screams and the sung parts. The drummer is a mean machine for sure. The guitar has a chilly dissonance to them. Not being too familiar with their past work, I know last year they did add one of the guitarists from Tombs so I assume this might play a part in that.  So these guys have several things going in their favor. They favor a more angular black metal sound as they blast into "Vessel" . They hang on the faster drone until slowing down midway into things and the clean moaning vocal returns interject sparse lamentations. It begins to slow into something darker and cavernous, not sure if it is doomy despite the plodding tempo it goes into, it seems their objective is not to mourn but to echo out into oblivion.

The guitar takes a much different tone on"Begotten Grimoire" . The drums keep up a frantic blast and the vocal go for more of a typical higher black metal shriek. At the three minute marks it slows into more of a gallop into a more shining transcendence. The  clean singing is more distant here. The guitar forms an angular melody of the din. The fourth and final song is "I Climbed the Highest Dahkma to Find It" . This one is also the longest at over eleven minutes. The first song is ten so despite being only four songs a lot of music is packed in. They go for a more rapid dizzying pace that forms a sonic tornado around you. The sung vocals are more quickly interchanged with the screams. They transition out of the blasting to give the song more of a punch in the heavier accents that follow. Its not until the almost eight minute mark that the songs breaks down and shifts into a more doomy pound. It's been a minute since a American black metal band has impressed me this year. I'll give this album a 9, and see how it sits with me. More open minded and adventurous fans of black metal should waste no time checking this one out.