Ashdautas: Where the Sun is Silent... (2007)

Some time ago I reviewed a release by Volahn, a band that is part of the association of Southern California bands known as the Black Twilight Circle.  Ashdautas is another member of the group of bands and, in fact, features Volahn himself on guitar, along with a number of other musicians who appear in several of these bands.

Along with their association with Volahn, the album cover grabbed my attention and convinced me to give this a shot.  The artwork is from Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński, whose works appear on a number of metal albums.  For good reason.  Just look at that thing.

The music here is lo-fi, raw and hateful black metal with shrieking lead guitars and chaotic song structures.  The atmosphere is oppressive and suffocating and the vocals are delivered in a ghastly wail.  The production is kind of muddy making the music a little unclear, but it has something of an authentic black metal feel to it that way, and it definitely adds to the dark atmosphere.  The songs sort of run together, so one really has to pay attention to discern when one song ends and the next one begins.  Again, this adds to the effect because there is no real reprieve from the harsh and overpowering atmosphere.  There are moments of lighter guitar melodies, but these just sound eerie and strange in light of everything else.  The whole release has a brutal feeling of doom and gloom seeping through every note.

This was my second look at the Black Twilight Circle, but it was largely the impetus to look further into other bands.  Ashdautas sticks out as one of the more complete bands in the scene and this EP is a perfect introduction to them.