The last album I checked by these guys was 2017's "The Circle," so I only missed one full-length. They have added two guitarists since I last checked them out, so the more modern metal feel of the opening track was a little surprise. I prefer what they do on the second song. The vocals are still strong, and weave a wonderful atmosphere on "Season of Grief". The feeling of melancholy continues to drape what the German band does, even as they dial back some of the black metal sonics. There are harsher vocals in places, but they do not feel like black metal vocals. They are aggressive, not tormented. In fact they take on more of a death metal roar when the song builds.
They have fine-tuned their songwriting to make their sound bigger and make what they do more accessible to the wider metal audience than just being a shoegazing black metal band. This is not to say they do not indulge in sonic spectacles that swept you away, as they do, and it is what gives them the edge over their more nu-metal minded peers/. A more delicate electronic touch glazes over "Dreamgatherer". It reminds me sonically of something the Cure might do. The belted vocals are the main difference. This ovf course builds into a harsh bellow. There is a great deal of dynamic ebb and flow in this song. So much so that fans of modern progressive metal can find a great deal to appreciate on this album.
"The Heart of December" floats on such an ethereal wave of atmosphere that it took a second listen to fully grasp the breeze in which it rides. It is most like Alcest, whom I once thought of these guys in the same light as. "Burial" carries a contrast between the more introspective clean vocals and the build into the harsher vocals that make the music of the dynamic shift. This finds them sharing more common ground with the metalcore bands that are packing arenas these days. The title track works off a sweeping soft-to-loud dynamic, which finds the vocals taking on a more emotional introspection. This a more conventional arrangement for them.
"The Same Hell" is more of a delicate shoegazing interlude. Then the almost folky-pop of the last song is an odd choice to close the album, but it does show the range of their songwriting. I will give this album a 9.5 it is very different than what I expected but shows their continued growth as a band while retaining their atmospheric core.
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