#255 Darkspace - Darkspace III

As it nears the end of the month, I tend to look back at what I've reviewed over the weeks, and decide what genres I've been neglecting, above any of my usual biases. This month, there doesn't seem to have been as much black-metal present as I would have liked there to be. To rectify this, I've decided that this, probably the last review for February, is going to be a look at one of my more recent discoveries in the genre - Darkspace, makers of cosmic symphonic black metal. Namely, I'm listening to their third album, Dark space III. 

I'm a big fan of music which captures the spirit of the cosmos, the universe and of space in general - My review of Ixion, earlier this year probably put-across that impression fairly thoroughly. While Ixion played doom-metal, Darkspace play black-metal, and one only has to notice that Dark space III has a running time of over 79 minutes to come to the conclusion that it's ambitious black-metal on a vast, you might say cosmic scale. In a word, the album is immersive. Keyboards are used extensively throughout the songs, weaving a vast and eye-opening atmosphere - the scintillating hue of the cosmos, of nebulae and the glowing light of stars , with the blazing intensity which black-metal can often create, brought right to the listeners fingertips as they listen. It's not the kind of album which allows you to treat it as background music - even while writing this review, the music slowly rises through to the tip of my concious and demands to be listened to properly, which leads me on to an observation; the album has a lot going on in it, even for it's length. The songs manage to find an interesting mid-ground between being pleasantly hypnotic and dynamic, and one which is very enjoyable to listen to. On one hand, similar guitar work can be occurring for large-fractions of minutes at a time, but this is juxtaposed with the intricacy with which a lot of the music is composed - there is not a single hint of lazy composition through the record, and even when a superficially similar section has been hypnotising the listener for a while, the subtle changes lying just beneath the surface cause it to remain fresh, as the music slowly transforms.

Likewise, there is a noteworthy level of variation in the musical-leanings - suffice to say, the album is far more than a collection of synth-augmented tremolos - it's a varied and multi-influence-inspired journey, with everything from chunky, energetic riffs right through to doom-like sections which have a gorgeous slow-motion intensity, perhaps appropriately, like spinning in zero-gravity, in the vastness of space. There's an interesting meeting of the scathing tone, as raw as that of conventional black-metal, meeting with the superb richness of the bands atmosphere, both in the form of synth and the bright, reverb-laden lead-guitar tone. The overall tone of the album, in fact, does a great job of reconciling the rawness and richness of what the black-metal sound can accomplish when well-thought-out, which I can safely say that "well thought out" is something which the album seems to be. It's the sort of album which, despite the songs mainly being in excess of eleven-minutes, you don't often feel like you are impatiently waiting for the next song, but instead, speaking for myself, I was infinitely satisfied to watch the music as it occurred - there's a certain liminality to Dark space III, which I think takes it to the high-ranks of atmospheric metal in general - the album begins, the album ends - and what happens in between manages to be very profound, introspective and exciting. The album is beautiful, certainly, but it also enveloped me as a listener, leaving me in a place which feels a little apart from the place I go when I listen to your average album, in a good way - then again, this isn't an average album.

As I said, I love music which conjures up the cosmos, and indeed, I've enjoyed atmospheric black-metal for a long time - combine the two, and you can consider me hooked immediately, and that's what I am. Dark Space III is among the best black metal albums I've listened to this month, and as a band, I expect Darkspace will be among my favourite discoveries of 2013. Based on how much music I can't wait to get around to listening to, that's a hotly contested place. 

This is a 10/10 album - the first of the year.

Links:
Darkspace Official Site
Darkspace on Metal Archives

#254 Owl - Self Titled

I use the phrase "rock n' roll" fairly frequently, describing everything from grimy crust-punk to swaggering, blaring death metal. This time, however, the band in question call up what is perhaps the most true instance of me describing something as "rock n' roll" in many many reviews. The album I'm looking at is the self titled full-length of San Fransisco Sabbath-enthusiasts Owl, released late last year, and filled to the brim with rocking goodness.

"Owl" is the sort of album which can be appreciated equally by people who are deeply into metal, and by people who dabble in it. Diverse is certainly a word which comes to mind fairly promptly - no two songs feel as if they are mined from quite the same vein, and I'm fairly certain that, over the seven tracks, the same vocal-style wasn't utilised more than once, from occult and smooth to a gruff, almost sleazy rocking wail, but at the same time, the record manages to offers a pleasingly coherent, flowing musical journey, through a vortex in time to the glory days of rock n' roll, and back again in the time it takes for the needle to travel across two sides of an LP. United by a blues-laced, 1960's influenced aesthetic, the album voyages through doom-bringing regions, and more upbeat sections closer to old-school rock n' roll as opposed to overtly falling into any metal subcategory, and a dozen places in between, all gathered under the banner of reassuringly crunchy, organic production. The self-evidence of the fact aside, "Owl" seems to be the kind of album which you really listen to and go "yeah, a band made that", as opposed to sifting through plastic-production looking for the soul of the instruments involved. The warm productions of this album certainly bring out the best in the sound, and the lead guitar, particularly, has a lovely golden hue, and a crispness... or I would say that if I had synaesthesia. I hope you understand what I mean nonetheless - my entire hobby of reviewing depends on my ability to conflate sensory information in a manner that people feel inclined to read. I digress, as ever.

To carry on the theme of diversity, the album really is one which offers a bit of everything - long, eerie extended drum solos that are tastefully constructed, impromptu Iron Butterfly covers, and considerably more besides. Everything which a rock album should have is, I can happily say, present and correct. The album ranges from psychedelic to ballsy, which is considerably more varied than your average modern metal record, in which bands tend to do precisely one sound, and only one sound. Owl come across at the kind of band who realise that a full length is an opportunity to do lots of different things musically, and that's certainly what the album gives a sense of - seven tracks of very different music. Since I listened to the "Stone Loner" 7" the band have certainly come a long way, and there is much more going on in the full length than in the conventional Sabbath-worship of that single - There was certainly a spark of spice in the bands sound then, and I definitely enjoyed the music in that style, but it's nice to see an even much more dynamic and adventurous sound - content to explore more numerous influences and directions.  The end result is a solid debut album, with some great hooks and extremely wholesome feel.





Music like this may well be the next retro-trend, with slews of occult rock and sugary, Sabbath-infused doom flowing past my ears with great frequency. Owl could well ride this wave, but in my eyes, it won't be cynical wave-riding, and neither is their music sugary. "Owl" seems like a honest, sincere record, and that adds a further layer to it's appeal. Rock n' Roll.

This is a solid 7/10 album.

Links:
Owl Official Site
Owl on Bandcamp
Owl on Facebook

#253 Ancient VVisdom - Deathlike

Without a doubt, Ancient VVisdom's music has an interesting recipe. I remember buying the début - A Godlike Inferno - blindly one day, and, after a few listens in which I acquired the taste, being thoroughly impressed by the minimalistic and unique blend of Americana with the occult and sensually dark music. As soon as I realised the band were releasing a follow-up album, which I believe was released earlier this month, I knew I'd be acquiring a copy. Now begins the adjustment period of deciding how I feel about it. the question on my mind, and probably on many minds, is whether this is a worthy follow-up.

I don't know how most people feel, but when a band has a thoroughly unusual and thus-far not-emulated sound, as Ancient VVisdom do, I can't help but have a greater notice than I might usually have with regards to the changes between albums. What, for instance, have the band decided to incorporate? Where do they seem to be taking the sound which they have themselves spawned? Deathlike seems to be the sort of sophomore album which, to review, one has to cater not only to the changes, but to also examine the rods of consistency which run through it and it's predecessor. To first examine the latter, it's safe to say that there are numerous elements which are being used to a similar effect on Deathlike - pleasingly, the album is still composed of primal, thudding percussion, acoustic guitar and dark, crooning vocals, deployed in much the same way as they were in A Godlike Inferno. In some places, the similarity is almost palpable, with some very similar lyrical and vocal structures with regards to rhyme and intonation, and the occasional guitar lick which you could be sure you'd heard somewhere before. A pessimist might call it re-hashed, an optimist might call it clever use of recurring motifs. For me, the jury is still out. Personally, my enjoyment of the record hasn't been compromised at all; The music seems more mature, and there's a degree more depth to it in places - perhaps the simplistic, plodding charm of A Godlike Inferno gets left behind occasionally, but Deathlike certainly comes at the listener from a greater number of angles, and for music which is largely acoustic in nature, the whole album carries a lot of intensity, pound for pound, and often more intensity than it's predecessor, too.

In terms of atmosphere, the album seems to be much more diverse. A Godlike Inferno was almost uncompromisingly dark, occult and velvet, even among the songs which were more catchy and warm. While Deathlike isn't merry by any stretch of the imagination, there are certainly songs which take on a more shimmering, whimsical mantle - not necessarily more catchy in and of themselves, but certainly less dark, earthy and brooding at times - songs like "Here is the Grave" are positively...positive sounding. The previous album had these too, but perhaps to a lesser extent. Once again, the optimist can see this as a natural change in style, the pessimist as a concession the growing mainstream forces behind occult-rock as a genre. Ultimately, however, what the optimists and pessimists say need not have bearing on your listening experience - the album is without a doubt one I've enjoyed listening to, whatever causal chains trail behind it's writing. Perhaps I miss the utter, bleak and sensual uplifting-darkness of A Godlike Inferno, but at the same time I'm perfectly happy to accept that Deathlike is a different animal, and while it's still dark, it's also different. The title-track and single which came before the albums release, named, of course "Deathlike", easily makes up for the general shortage of infernal invocation elsewhere, and is quite easily one of the bands most stirringly dark and dynamic pieces to date - My mistake, perhaps, was expecting an album made entirely from similarly vast epics.

In this review, to be quite frank, I've sounded more negative than I usually do - perhaps disproportionately so. I want to end by emphasising that I really did enjoy Deathlike, but at the same time, it wasn't what I was expecting. By releasing the title track, and indeed what I'd consider to be the strongest track as a single, I was mentally prepared to be blown away, but instead I am presented with a respectable, pretty-good album, and and will no doubt enjoy more when I eventually "get" the changes in the bands sound - perhaps enjoying every bit as much as A Godlike Inferno. As an album, Deathlike is, I feel, a lot more human.

This is a 7/10 record.

Links:
Ancient VVisdom Official Site
Ancient VVisdom on Facebook