VEILBURNER : "All That Glimmer is Gloam"

 Not what you would expect from American Black Metal unless you were factoring a band like Worm into the equation, as they are darker and more experimental, owing more to Mayhem, with their angular creep. They do throw blast beats into the first song, but it is already after it has been contrasted with more deliberate drumming. There is a cool unhinged element to what they do. "Oblivion is Yours to Labyrinth" finds the ghastly grumbling of the vocals sounding like their vocalist is losing his mind in the vocal booth. They pick up speed but without going into blast beats here. They flirt with prog a bit here. This can be heard in the chaos that unfolds here. This album is much more experimental than I remember them being. 

Is this album black metal? Well, it is dark so that steers them in that direction. The key here is that the songs are so interesting it does not really matter what direction they lean in genre-wise." Vitriolic  Hiss" has the dissonant riff grooving with syncopated accents. Two mintues in and they have already covered a great deal of ground. Guitar solos are more accents than showcased shredding. The vocals continue to shift through growls and moans. The vocals are really well produced, with effects making the most of the crazed sounds coming from him. It makes the album like a ride through a hsunted house.

You are four songs in before they hit you with blast beats. The vocals are so feral at this point it makes sense. But it's the weakest of the first four songs. In the last minute, things come together thanks to some cool riffs. Then they come at you from the other end of the spectrum with some dark melodic vibes that are more sung over, but the vocals sit back in reverb. Odd electronics also color things to make "Dis Obedient Woe" perhaps the album's best song.They take a more thrashing turn for "Goslave and Blood Mortar". It is ne of the more straight-up metal moments. "A Seance to Specter" works off a more atmospheric weirdness, creating it's throb. This transitions into a more furious burst of black metal and then ebbs back and forth between the two dynamics. 

They are less kind to your ears on"Golgothic Holocaust". They double down on the blast mcnasty here, midway in the drop, down to more of a half time groove that feels darker and heavier. The demonic declarations continue, forming an effective narrative for this album. The title track closes things out. It is more riff-oriented and deliberate, with vocals not sung but holding more purpose in the darker shadow the song casts. I will give this album a 9 and see how it grows on me; it is one of the more original metal albums I've heard in a minute. This drops October 16th on Transcending Obscurity Records. 

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Veilburner : "the Obscene Rite"

Was sitting in my in-box for some time just now getting around to checking out this American black metal band that is not really a punk band jumping on the band-wagon or trying to impress their hipster friends, though hipsters have moved on from black metal. These guy go with the dramatic riffs and do not apologize for playing this brand of metal. They do have a fair amount of influence from death metal. This is heard even more on the second song. Dimmu Borgir is also an influence. This is apparent in how the vocals are produced as well as how the arrangements slither like a serpents and resist going back to the verses. The synths lend some industrial density. For a duo the breadth of what they accomplish is pretty impressive.

By the time they get to "Vaterchen" they have proved to me that they are in fact dark enough. The vocal take on a trippy spoken word approach that drips with effects as it enters an angular groove that would sound good high. The drumming is particularly impressive as this song takes them down a more progressive road. There is a more straight forward approach to a more mainstream take on a more deathly black metal with "Eucharist of the breathing Abyss". But it is still a well written and decent song, reminded me a little more of Mayhem. Until the creepy middle section "Baphometic Catalyst". Hints of more progressive undertones begin the weirdly mixed song "Delimma Manifestation". An acoustic guitar even surfaces for a few passages , before they begin to hit you with the more death metal guitars.

Clean singing enters the picture on the weird and wonderful wackiness that is "In the Revelations of bloodstained Void". To say it's prog gets closer, but it is not prog in the way we normally think of it, almost more of the Devin Townsend kind. I'm fine with them heading into a more industrial direction on the last song, not a fan of the vocals that fall where the chorus would be. They sound like they are not fully committed to their growl. Overall pretty solid I'll give this one an 8, if you are a fan of cross-over black metal bands like Dimmu, this is worth a listen.