Drowning the Light: To the End of Time (2007)

Today, I am back with another Drowning the Light album review.  Just like the subject of yesterday's post, this album was released in 2007.  It is actually the band's fourth full-length and was released just before yesterday's album.  But again, there are some profound differences between this album and the one from yesterday that makes it stand out.

This album may just be the most darkly romantic-sounding raw black metal album I have ever heard.  Now I do not want to make it sound like this makes it a happy album, very fucking far from it in fact.  It is an ugly kind of romance.  Dark, filthy and disgusting.  There are moments of light, of hope where Drowning the Light sounds like they are channeling The Cure through their much more emphatic Burzum influence, but then the darkness overtakes them, leaving with a shamble of broken hope.

The lyrics certainly follow along with this lack of hope.  Featuring song titles like "The Obscene Rite of Possession" and "Severing All Ties to this Mortal World", it is clear the songwriter is in a pretty dark place.  And of course the vocals themselves greatly contrast with the music, taking on a horrifically ugly rasp that is sheer madness compared with the relative levity of some of the music.

This is one of the more memorable Drowning the Light albums, taking on a tone that is unusual for the genre.  And for that, it is also one of the better ones, one I would recommend for someone interested in checking out the band.