Teloch Vovin : Further Down the Tunnel"

It's no secret most of the black metal coming out of New York tends to defy convention. Bands like Liturgy, Krallice, Sannhet, and Tombs come to mind. Teloch Vovin doesn't sound like any of those bands. They carry a raw death metal snarl and are not apologizing for being metal. They open up with an intro piece which would not be out of place on a King Diamond  album. While this album is not what I would call theatrical there is a fair amount of drama to ritual. "Thaumiel" find the crazed vocals going berserk like if Glen Benton was possessed by the poultrygeist. In one part it even sounds like he is screaming dead by dawn. They more of first wave  approach to  black metal that in someways is similar to Mortuary Drape, but even more straight forward. The blast beats feel more death metal to me than black metal. The drums on this album already sound like they were beaten to hell and back and then thrown down the stairs. After a few listens the crazy haphazard approach to both song writing and production begins to grow on me.


"Vena Cava" is more chaotic, with the vocals holding it together, the guitar sound could stand to be a little thicker as you have to jam the ear buds in your ears to get the full effect of their chug.The lock in together before the two and a half minute mark and then close the song.There is some weird experimentation with the instrumental " Breathe Deep..." that sounds like it could be from a 90s horror movie. They close out this ep with "Adoration/Vexation" . It starts off with a gang vocal chant before launching into what is like a more typical black metal battle gallop. The vocals do not follow the screamed patterns that most black metal bands adhere to giving them more of their own personality.Clean vocals come in with a chanted verse that haunts the song in the songs final minutes. I would love to see how they are pulling of these vocals live as there are so many over dubs.

I'll give this one an 8.5. It is innovative though not in the ways I expected going into this. The band accomplished what they set out to do and I'm interested to hear where they will go from here on a full length that might allow for more time to indulge in some of their experimental leanings that were placed on the altar of sacrifice here to appease the metal gods.If you like a good dose of 80s death metal to go with your black metal or wish Deicide was more black metal then this album is worth a listen. It is being released September 23rd.




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