ALBUM REVIEW: Shroud Of Despondency/LanzerRath – Shroud Of Despondency/LanzerRath
US black metal acts SHROUD OF DESPONDENCY and LANZERRATH couldn’t be further apart from each other in terms of how each of them approaches this style of music. SHROUD OF DESPONDENCY‘s far more experimental take on extremity has served them well over the course of the last two-and-a-half decades, and the much younger LANZERRATH‘s emphasis on the genre’s more traditional, monolithic side makes them unlikely bedfellows when it comes to working together, purely for how different each band’s sound is from the other. The split that the two acts have produced, however, might just be one of the best splits that the US black metal scene has produced in years, with the bands’ distinct styles complementing rather than clashing with what the other is doing, contributing to an impressively cohesive and powerful musical statement.
The SHROUD OF DESPONDENCY portion of this split kicks off with The Source Of Multiversal Degradation, a brilliantly bizarre and bombastic piece of music that couples razor sharp black metal hooks and acerbic vocals with a playful and off-kilter keyboard sound that is spacey and psychedelic at points whilst sounding bombastic, lending this song the feel of a demented carnival, sounding like a harsher version of a band like PENSEES NOCTURNES. There’s some incredibly tight musicianship on display, especially when it comes to the angular guitars and intricate, rumbling drums, which create a cavernous backdrop around which the rest of this feral and avant-garde offering takes shape, incorporating a wide range of styles into the mix to make this as epic and varied as possible.
Celestial Venom adopts a more streamlined symphonic black metal sound, although the inventive flourishes, animated hooks and grandiose keys are still present, with a speed-driven and technical approach to the core aspects of the music serving the sound incredibly well. It sounds lean yet muscular, weaving some great, chaotic bursts of energy into the mix and making this song unpredictable and ferocious, with the band injecting as many impressive riffs and dramatic touches into the mix as they can to capture some of the unhinged qualities of the previous track while refining them significantly.
Where SHROUD OF DESPONDENCY crafted two tracks for this record, LANZERRATH manage to make an impact in just one. Granted, Nebular Collapse: The Dissolution Of Order And Meaning stands at close to 20 minutes long, making even the sprawling juggernauts that came before it seem short and punchy by comparison, but this time is used extremely well; embracing an abrasive, rawer sound, this huge effort stands in stark contrast to the lively and blistering elements of the first half, dragging the music down to a relative crawl and building a primitive, hypnotic sound early on that draws the listener in and proves to be just as compelling for very different reasons.
It’s a got a more traditional black metal sound, with a twist of DSBM added, but manages to distinguish itself from both these styles with its weighty, jarring guitar work, delicate, cymbal-heavy drumming and coarse, snarling vocals, with only a few lighter, reverb-drenched interludes and some cacophonous moments peppered liberally throughout. Where the first two tracks were defined by experimental twists and discordant shifts in tone and pace, this song is carried by pure atmosphere, soaring melodies and huge, grating rhythms, creating one gargantuan, relatively uniform slab of black metal that is every bit as imposing and majestic as the rest of the record, but standing out for all the right reasons.
For two acts that are on polar opposites of the black metal spectrum, this manages to capture an incredibly cohesive and enthralling sound throughout, and it’s all down to both bands distilling the same elements into their sound in very different ways. Each of these three songs is dripping with atmosphere, whether it’s the playful bombast of SHROUD OF DESPONDENCY‘s avant-garde flourishes or the stripped back, cavernous and even ritualistic bent of LANZERRATH. Oftentimes, splits and EPs are used as opportunities for bands to unburden themselves of weaker material and leave their best tracks for albums, but this is certainly one of those cases where not only are these songs album worthy, but they’re as impressive as some of each bands’ best work. Releases like this show just how vibrant and creative the US black metal underground is, and build greater anticipation for whatever each band plans to do next.
Rating: 9/10
Shroud Of Despondency/LanzerRath is out now via Northern Spire Productions.
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