EP REVIEW: Plummeting Into The Hour Of The Wolf – Black Sorcery

They may have only formed back in 2020, but BLACK SORCERY are quickly establishing themselves as one of the most promising new acts to come out of the US’ black metal underground. Drawing heavily from the genre’s 90s peak for musical influence without straying into the realms of parody or carbon copy, the band’s first album, 2023’s Deciphering Torment Through Malediction, set the tone for their style going forward, laying some incredibly solid foundations for their future output. Now, just shy of a year since that album’s release, the band are back with their new EP, Plummeting Into The Hour Of The Wolf, a record that boasts a progression in the band’s songwriting and approach, taking them several steps closer to crystallising their own voice within the genre.

Opener World Demands Cruelty, with its disjointed, hazy and unhinged sound, is an incredibly abrasive and murky take on second wave black metal. Shuddering chords are punctuated by biting tremolos, sharper rhythms and frenetic drums, with feral shrieks sitting atop this musical brew and adding a caustic edge to the mix. Although the classic black metal sound looms large in the songwriting, it’s still got an unnerving and slightly jarring side to it that makes it stand out from many tracks in a similar style, providing a darker twist on a well-established formula. The Hour Of The Wolf provides a much more hypnotic and immersive take on the same elements, coupling soaring, melody-driven guitar work with authoritative drumming and spartan, though nonetheless feral, vocal howls, sounding much closer to the sort of timeless Norwegian template that the last song subverted, whilst not sounding too formulaic and introducing some interesting hooks to keep things interesting.

Without Reflection initially begins life as a far more doom-laden, ponderous affair that departs drastically into a denser blackened doom sound, but very quickly morphs into a faster, more rabid piece of discordant black metal with a few great, groove-laden black ‘n’ roll flourishes peppered generously throughout, proving to be the most eclectic and adventurous effort on this record as far as the songwriting goes. Those off-kilter riffs and the more opaque sound that defined the opener reappear, but are used to complement the wide array of imaginative musicianship that is present here, just one small piece in a much larger whole that ebbs and flows in and out of cacophony at various points, making for an impressive climactic statement that closes this EP out spectacularly.

Although it’s clear from even a cursory listen that BLACK SORCERY take much of their influence directly from the rawer end of second wave black metal, with this EP they have been able to inject enough dissonant, murky elements into the mix to make it feel a lot more distinct from the vast majority of other bands writing in a similar style. It’s indebted to the genre’s heyday but is adding to the wider pantheon of black metal with its approach, something that only a scant number of modern acts are doing with their material. This may have only come less than a year since the release of Deciphering Torment Through Malediction, but it’s clear just how much their style has developed in that short space of time, and it would be great to see the sound and style present here explored in greater depth on their next record, because these three new tracks are fantastic.

Rating: 8/10

Plummeting Into The Hour Of The Wolf is out now via Eternal Death.

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