Given that only one year had elapsed since the release of Leviathan's debut, it should come as no surprise that the formula for the sophomore album was not really changed up all that much. This album is still densely atmospheric with sections that are far more black metal-oriented and ambient interludes. One thing that appears to have changed is that the harsh black metal parts seem almost harsher and angrier. The previous album was far more inwardly painful while this album seems to project that anger outwards. It is simply an angrier and more hateful release whereas the previous one was much more devastatingly emotional.
Wrest is a fantastic musician and his talents are on full display once more with this release. His guitar riffs are fairly complex for raw black metal and he makes use of keyboards to provide a suitably eerie atmosphere in places. One thing that is incredibly impressive is his ability to craft intriguing bass riffs underlying the guitar riffs and keyboard melodies. His vocals are also impressive on this release, carrying on in the typical black metal rasp, but conveying a lot of emotion for the genre.
The downside to this album is that the second half tends to be a little more heavily focused on the ambient songs at the expense of the black metal ones. Now Wrest does an excellent job with those tracks, but I am typically more interested in the heavier stuff than the ambient songs. So, the second half tends to drag a little too much for my taste.
This album is a worthy successor to Leviathan's legendary debut. It is very much a continuation of the ideas presented on that album, with some things improved, while others declined. While I do not believe it quite lives up to the standard Leviathan set with their debut, it is a damn fine album in its own right.
No comments:
Post a Comment