Woods of Desolation : "the Falling Tide"

 

It seems odd to release a black metal album this late in the year, but here we are. This Atmospheric project from Australia is a one-man band not unlike Burzum. Sonically different than Burzum, though perhaps more in ocmmon with Burzum's earlier work as it shares a similar anger. Though not as chilling or cold as what Varg used to do. There is a shimmer in the buzzing wall of tremolo picking that hints at black gaze leanings, though the overall mood is more rage motivated. That is even with the theme of this album being an exploration of death, this wall of buzzsaw shimmer worked for me on the first song, but when they try to go to the same well twice it is not as effective. It begins to sound like the same song, even though marginally more symphonic in scope. You can hear the guitars shift chords slightly, but it is more a opaque wall of sound. 

Going into the third song I am going to need more in the way of dynamics. There is more of a change here, but it still works off the same feel, making this begin to become a one trick pony. Why the time we get to the title track this uniform sounds is really making things just run together and hard to tell the songs, apart. You will have some cvltists , who are going to say "What you can't here the changes, how into black metal are you. And yes, the title track does change once you get to the midway point then it is back to more of the same. I would say the title track finds the songwriting beginning to move in a direction I want it to, over all this seems to be more of a matter of sound over songs. Writing melodic, dynamic songs is the bare minimum you need to create lasting music that matter. Then the question becomes what is being done to separate yourself from other artists who are also doing that within the same genre, which is a talk many of these bands are not ready to have., 

"the Passing" is the first song that is really successful in stepping away from the buzz of guitars to do this. Not sure why he had to wait five songs in to do it, but we made it here, so I am thankful for that. The last song finds a more traditional black metal path being raged into. There are some great sounds being captured here, but as far as the overall depth of mood and dynamics go it often falls short so I will give this album an 8. Very proficient and good and what he does, what he does just happens to be shining of one star. This was released on Seasons of Mist. 

Gothtober - Cloak : "the Burning Dawn"

The goth word gets thrown around with these guys when they are more blackened form of metal, though very melodic. Black metal and goth are easily wedded since darkness is a prime motivator for the sounds of both genres.  A straight up black metal band might not be Gothtober material , but these guys are more flirtatious with black metal than committed to it. They are very committed to sounding Swedish .  After their first album the question I had going into this album is can these guys show me who they are without simply pulling from the books of  Dissection, Watain and Tribulation?  Vocally the answer is no. At least for the first song. It is like a toned down less blast beaten version of Watain.  The first song does not have the same level melodic rock sensibility. The guitar tone is more dialed in and some of the chugged riffs are heavier and cooler.

That Tribulation rock thing I was just mentioning shows up on " A Voice In the Night". There is a catchier chorus making it evident they have polished their song writing chops. They blend the shadows of their sound with articulated clean guitar and take you on more of a journey. They pick the pace up for "Tempter's Call". The vocals stay in a languid snarl leaving most of the weight on the guitars. There are sung vocals tracked away in the background.  It is not the band's heavier side , but their more melodic that makes them their own entity. There is a some what sung vocal it's more like a gothic chant 3 minutes in. The guitar playing is much more memorable here. The first time they go after a more feral Watain like sound is on "Into the Storm". It smooths out before hitting the verse. Then jam out toward the end of the song with a section that lets the bass wander.

With talk of rabid hungers devouring everything into nothingness, which might be sentiments I support, seem like ideologies espoused by their influences. The formula seems to be three minutes straightforward metal and then things change up with more atmosphere or melodic variations. Things progressively darker with "the Fire, the Faith, the Void". It's an instrumental interesting enough to keep my attention.  The are back being Swedish meatballs  with "On Poisoned Ground". I like the bass driven intro to "Where Horrors Thrive".  The lower almost whispered vocal floats in for a few moments here and there.  Every little bit helps as the vocals are really the only weak point of the band. They are the reason I will round this one down to an 8.5. Their influences  are still worn on their sleeves, but to a lesser extent as they continue to find themselves. . 

Catching Up With 2017 Ulsect : "s/t"

This band from the Netherland's released their debut album back in May. It features members of Textures and Dodecahedron. They employ some interesting angular riffs to contrast some of the atmospheric sections. You can hear hints of hardcore in how the vocals are barked rather than committing to a full on guttural growl. There is no question the darkness they dig into has a range of dynamics.There are some "oh shit moments" when I realize I am on the next song already. The black metal influence peeks out on the second song as well. But this album is more fully committed to being death metal. "Diminish" just works off of what this band has already established they do , just with the bass coming up in the mix. "Moire" is a deeper dive into dark with it's deliberate march. Though it almost serves more as an intro for " Unveil" than being a song in and of it's self . "Unveil" is a more dynamic moment for this album with the melodic break approaching the song's midway point. But going into the blast beat at the end is a little predictable.

"An Augury"  is another instrumental that works off a slower tempo, though it feels more like an idea for a song than an actual song that goes somewhere. Songs tell stories even if they are instrumental. Every story has a beginning , middle and end, so for a song to not have these it is falling short of the story it should be telling. That is why the rule around here has been "cool riffs alone do not make a good song" the riffs are the words that tell this story and one good word is not a story. If you are thinking that is too much to ask from music than go back to sniffing glue. "the Ending" is another dense slab of death metal. The chugged accents play to the band strengths. The growls at this point in the record begin to feel like a one trick pony. While this is a defining quality of death metal it can become tedious.

The album closes with the six and a half minute "Maunder" . It tells the story I spoke of earlier. It starts off slower casting a sonic shadow. It begins to build the vocals have a more spoken quality before going into the roars and screams. Still at the mid way point they are using restraint and not getting carried away by the need for speed, which would feel like they are taking the easy way out. The riffs are creepy . Still compensating for the lack of melody in the vocals which at this point are just a texture. Rather than racing away with you they allow the song to dissolve into atmospheric noise proving they know how to tell a story without relying on the typical death metal plot devices. I'll give this album a 8 while it falls into some of the genres limitations it rises to the occasion more often than not.

Nightbringer : "Terra Damnata"

The Colorado black metal horde has returned with their 5th album and continue to slay by summoning some of the most legit black metal to come out of the States. The snarl takes you back to the golden years of the 90's for some classic hateful screaming. There is a cool angular section in the latter half of "Misrule". These guys have all the grandiose venom, but taper it with some eerie and unhinged moments. "Midnight's Crow " reminds me a little of older Dimmu Borgir. The production on the album is the shit it sounds pretty massive.The effect on the vocals on "Of key and crossed bones" further pushes it in the Dimmu direction. Which I am fine with as it's not really ripping them off but using a blueprint they perfected and working off of that.

A piano starts of "Let the Silence be..." before throwing them into a rapid fire blast beat. The drums sound like a wall that is rolling over you. They have a very dramatic and orchestrated sound without being symphonic. The songs is just well layered and arranged though it doesn't snake through the same dark maazes as Dimmu. /The use of synths is a card well played on this album as they push the dynamic intensity forward with adding an element of cheese. They do not rely on them as much as Dimmu and fall on the side of earlier Emperor when it comes to this. The vocals on "Inheritor of a Dying World" remind me a little of the more dramatic exclamations of Watain. This song slows things down a little and allows the double bass to speed up around it rather than trying to keep up.

The dark dissonance to "the Lamp of Inverse Light" sets a pretty powerful tone. They layer samples over the extended chords as the song creeps to life. While it sounds cool enough I am not sure it deserves to stand along as an instrumental.  They end things on a more brisk note  It is a more typical take on black metal but these guys do it so well that it doesn't bore me like a thousand other bands who might attempt this with a more rough hewn production value and less precise playing.  I'll give this album an 8.5, it's really good, I don't have any complaints about it some of the songs just grab me more than others and the ones that run off pure aggression don't speak to me as strongly , other than that this is a must for fans of black metal. This is being released April 14th on Season of Mist.