Black Metal History Month- Chapel Perilous : "the Tower of Silence"

 

Things start off pretty interesting for this black metal band from Australia. Granted Australia is nothing like Scandinavia, so thankfully they are not trying to recreate an Arctic chill there. They are doing their own thing at least at first. They begin to conform more and more to the sonic uniform of more traditional black metal, with touches of melody and dissonance as more window-dressing than the focal points we heard in the first song that inspired me to dig into this album. 

"Bareshnum" is darker and throbs in a manner that almost reminds me of Nachymystium, though the intention of this band's music does not seem to be brooding in the harrowing existence of their drugged depravity. When the Deep Purple-like organ chimes in, how groundbreaking it is might depend on how much Sigh you have heard. The vocals are purposeful so they get credit for that, since in more extreme forms of metal, vocals can be an obligatory afterthought. They do begin to succumb to more blast beats and croaking about ancient ones. This leads to these guys not being as concerned with the vocals are they were earlier in the album and they form more of a hateful roar, that could have been experimented more, as they have experimented with other instruments. 

By the time we get to "Skeletal Remains" it feels like we are back to the blasting basics the first song seemed to promise an escape from. The album closes with "Holy Fire" which finds the drummer really going off in a display of double bass. But what are they doing that other black metal bands are not doing. Well, they are layering the vocals though hardly groundbreaking. I do like how they dig into the last two minutes of the song, though the rule around here is cool riffs alone does not a good song make. They can capture a mood effectively so they get credit for that. Overall however I will round this one down to an 8. While I will pay attention to their name and see where these guys go from here, this album as it stands sets the bar high on the first song and then does not live up to that for me, They are effective at holding the standard of black metal which is all some people want and those people will be pleased by this album. 

pst86