Lock Howl : " Pareidolia'

Here is an odd hybrid of an album with gothy crooned vocals that have more of a Beastmilk feel to them. The metal side of the coin, is more progressive in some of the passages, while this keeps a neo-classical tone in play that works with the over all sound it is weird hearing this in the context of the more lo-fi production. The is a more dark vibe to "Echoes From the Chemical Void". I am not sure all of the guitar melodies are where they need to be. The way they kick into the chorus also need a bigger sound production wise to live up to its potential, "Nephilim " is a little happier than I would have hoped it would be, but I guess that is where the song wanted to go.

As far as influences go it seems this is more influenced by the revivalist bands than actually pulling from Sisters of Mercy or Bauhaus like some reviews might suggest. There is a more 80s metal guitar tone to "Into the Darkness, Into the Unknown" the more metal elements have faded away except for a more Emperor direction the chorus flirts with. 'Graveless" is the first song that really turns to older goth . It also collides with metal. "Lost in Static" takes more of a middle of the road approach I do like the fact it uses more of the tried and true gothic trapping but needs the hooks to hook you in. I really like the verses to "She Was Found By the Lake" the metal vocals that come in on the chorus strike me as more of a nu-metal good cop bad cop thing. He even gives a wink to Type O Negative on this one. When it comes to being a one man band the guitars on this album are it's strongest point. To say this project is in any way black metal even on the last song where the rasped vocals are dominant, would be like calling Sentenced black metal. It would not make sense.The exchange of the almost surf rock reverb heavy guitars on the last song which has a more driving tempo, but barely what we would call metal in these parts of the black woods. Overall even though it is not the marriage of black metal to post-punk that I had been promised, what this album is still works well on many levels and I like it as I am still mourning the demise of Beastmilk and awaiting another Grave Pleasures album. so I will round it up to a 9.