This new release from Bölzer is epic black metal at its finest! Displaying a vast array of sounds, from relentless blasting and savage thrash through to evocative atmospheres – all coming together to create a very unique tone. If there is a colour blacker than black, this EP conjures that shade up from the very depths! The atmosphere and feel of the album sets a nice live tone, the instrumentation is huge, the vocals absolutely howling and haunting. There are very raw savagery and dark tone to the album, both in its’ intensity and performance – it is delivered with a sense of abrasive attitude that meets cool and calculated.
Each one of these great tracks is very progressive, ambient, violent and cunning – most of them clock in at close to the ten-minute mark. It has a very crisp and striking sound, the production is a very fine marriage of the raw elements of black metal with a modern sensibility. The drums have a great depth to them, both in feel and delivery. The guitars are chunky, with a great high-end ambience to them. The vocals on this one are really awesome, they go between a Celtic Frost style to pure grim black metal, to evocative singing and back again. There is some excellent and fitting whistling melodies here too, very different and really cool. Even though this release is an ‘EP’, it certainly doesn’t feel like a short format release, it has a great sense of depth and movement to it and feels more like a ‘mini-album. I would certainly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of black metal in the genre’s entirety – there certainly is something here for everyone. From ‘kvlt’ to more ‘modern’ black metal fan tastes, this is an excellent release for the end of the year!
Let the Black Mass begin!
Release Year: 2019
Label: Lightning & Sons
Category: EP
Country: Switzerland
Reviewed by Chris Szafranski
