Crystal Coffin : "the Curse of Immortality"

 It seems I am getting caught up black metal to come. This one is a looming Halloween release from this Canadian band. The play a very deliberate and sonically scathing brand of black metal, that carries a commanding prescience that is stripped away of some of the Northern European trappings of the genre. The formula of the opening track seem to be varying from blast beats to a more galloping swell. The vocals are a mid range rasp.  "the Undead' finds things in a more straight forward direction, which works better than the title track. Not that there is anything wrong with the title track it just did not hit me as effectively as the second song. Though I did hit my Delta 8 pen before returning to the album to it might vibe better now. There are more guitar melodies introduced over the flood of double bass that builds the song.

There is a more of a classic metal attack to the riff that starts off "the Vortex of Earth and Death". The vocals sometime drop down into a lower growl . When we refer to these guys as black metal there are clearly more styles meeting in their melting pot, "Final Breaths" has a Behemoth like chug giving it more weight. Though when they default to the more blasty sections of the song it feels obligatory. The synths mixed under the guitars prove effective. Sung vocals even come in as things continue to gain speed. "Cyrogenesis" is a descent into the kind of blasted blackness you might expect from any black metal band influenced by Immortal. There is a cool more triumphant riff that cuts through, but the rule here is cool riffs alone does not a good song make. 

"Rise" finds things grinding at not as frantic a pace, and proving more effective when it comes to creating a more menacing mood, with an edge of creepiness to it. This works better than the song after it that fades into the back ground as the blast beats just become a blur of white noise. The album ends with 'the Closing of the Crystal Coffin" which is a proggy affair with the synths bringing strings up in the mix. For an instrumental it's alright .I will give this album an 8 , it sounds great , but is not all that original.