1st Place: Puppies_On_Acid – Into the Unknown Realms of the Fermi Paradox1. Cavernous Gate – Among the Decayed Grass First Impressions:The story seems to not exist yet so I’m just gonna ignore it for the time being. And since I know this is very much some kind of spacey, atmospheric black metal type of EP I’m gonna follow the Abigail Williams rule for now and mostly not comment except for brief thoughts towards the end of/after each track. I was thrown for a loop by the vocals at the start of this but they went into more expected territory as the song went on and got more intense. Which I’m more than fine with, preferable to me really. This is actually going through a lot more shifts than I was expecting, I kinda regret not typing along as I go now. It’s pretty cool. Might be overall a bit sluggish to really work for me in this vein but nah, I’m diggin’ it.
Final Thoughts:Due to the nature of this EP, it’s kind of hard to say which songs are my favorites or least favorites, honestly, but I think this one has consistently held my interest the most out of all of these just due to its (relatively) more progressive nature than the others. Which, well, isn’t necessarily needed or even necessarily a positive for this style of music, but it does make it inherently more “interesting” to an extent, and it helps that the core sound here really is quite good too.
Like, it’s heavier on the doomier side of atmospheric black metal – mostly slow paced with these really sludgy riffs and the organ makes for an interesting touch as well, and it’s very much melodically driven, both in the vocals and the guitar riffs and, well, the general sound really. And it helps that it has a few recurrent hooks throughout, the first half has this nice verse/chorus structure going on where the main melody gets traded between the vocals and the guitar line.
And when the song kicks into full gear it does do a good job still staying melodic and avoiding falling into the trap of being really monochrome or muddy. The song also doesn’t hold on its faster-paced moments as long so it doesn’t get tiring, and the transition back to a slower pace through the triplet bassline is executed well on top of that, it’s a particularly cool moment in the track.
I think my only real gripe is that… I’unno, it does kind of peter out a little at the end, maybe it works better in the context of the album but the song doesn’t really have a satisfying end to it, it just kind of goes on after it hits its peak and pulls back. I also do wish the heavier parts had a more lush and melodically intense sound to them like some of the other tracks here do, but it’s all minor gripes really, I still enjoy this one quite a bit & it definitely kicks off the overall EP well to boot.
Reward:
2. The Crevices Below – Below the CrevicesFirst Impressions:Yes I know this is the Midnight Odyssey guy like I said in PM. I haven’t actually checked out his other stuff though. He seemed to not care enough about this project to keep it going so that’s a bit worrisome. There’s a kind of industrial vibe to this one. It’s… different than what I was expecting, for sure. Okay, and there’s the metal. Yeah this is just straight up Midnight Odyssey now. I think it’s a bit rougher than most Midnight Odyssey and doesn’t have as much unique flavor to it beyond the quieter first half or so, but it’s solid black metal all the same.
Final Thoughts:As far as Dis Pater black metal goes this isn’t as good as the Midnight Odyssey standard and I blame that on it being much more conventionally black metal, and produced as such. Like, even with the more straightforward Midnight Odyssey tracks, there’s usually this specific sound that still sounds very sharp and kind of otherworldly, and while the sound of this has, y’know, some of that, it’s not quite as… ethereal, let’s call it.
I also don’t think the transition from the intro to the main metal meat of the song is handled that well, there’s this sense of foreboding and tension that feels like it should naturally build up to that explosion of metal but it just kind of, happens after a while instead. I feel like it’s a minor gripe since each section is good on its own and it’s not necessarily a sloppy transition either, just not a very satisfying one.
I don’t really have much to say on the sound of this one because, well, it’s a Dis Pater project. It sure as hell sounds like it, same deep raspy vocals, same washed-out guitar riffing sticking to that delicious mid range, a fair bit of intensity balanced with a lot of atmosphere. It’s a good sound, but I also have to compare it to the best of Midnight Odyssey which, well, just nails the lush, atmospheric sound a lot better. This feels like the blueprint for the Midnight Odyssey sound more than anything, even though I think this album came out right around the same time as Funerals.
Anyways. I like it, but the point is that I know the artist in question can and has done better, and it’s also overall a bit too heavy on the bass production-wise, I feel? The higher end does come through but not nearly as strongly as I’d want it. Again, it’s mostly nitpicks here, I’m still definitely gonna check out this project because it’s Good Stuff but it’s not Great Stuff.
Reward:
3. Coldworld – Climax of SorrowFirst Impressions:Coldworld, Darkspace, what’s next, Blackzone? Winterland? This seems to be black metal of the triplet groove variety. Again it’s got a good sound that I’m generally a fan of though. I’m glad we’ve learned that the spacey and bleak but melodic side of black metal is my favorite side, this is gonna be a good EP to just chill out to I feel. This is probably my favorite one so far honestly, I love how massive this sounds during its louder moments but it’s got some nice, ambient quieter moments to balance it out too.
Final Thoughts:Technically speaking this also sounds like it could just straight up be a Midnight Odyssey song. The production isn’t quite the same but basically everything else about it aesthetically is. The washed-out production with mid-range riffing and some layers of synths, the deeper, raspy growls, the straight triplet groove, this could be a lost Funerals track and I wouldn’t really question it. I did confirm this, in fact, is not another Dis Pater project, too.
Weirdly I do think it does that sound a bit better, mostly due to the triplet groove here being a very natural fit for the style, mixed with the fact that the intense moments of this really rip, turning the kind of relaxed groove into this blisteringly fast storm with the same soothing wall of synths providing melodic contrast to the riffing. I do think the guitar riffing itself suffers during the faster moments, though the guitar leads come in to balance it out nicely and provide that melodic accompaniment, and the drum work gets a fair bit more complex and restrained once they do even though it never quite feels like the intensity is lowered either.
Anyways what I’m trying to say is that this is a very enjoyable albeit pretty straightforward atmospheric black metal track. Best listened to at night. This entire EP is best listened to at night really. I’m doing so right now, on my headphones actually since I’m at my parents’ house and they’re asleep and if I played this as loud as I need to on my speakers they’d yell at me lol. I don’t actually have anything else to say about the song though. It’s good. Is it better than Cavernous Gate? I don’t know, honestly, it’s all very close with this one. They’re actually pretty sonically different overall too. I’ll decide when I post the overall song rankings across every EP, I guess.
Reward:
4. Austere – This Dreadful EmptinessFirst Impressions:Oh yeah this definitely has those depressive black metal screams I just don’t… get. I’m getting the sense I’d definitely prefer this one as an instrumental, but the actual sound of it is pretty dang solid. I think there’s a bit too much hihat/cymbal in the mix once the song kicks into full gear also, I’d rather hear the guitars, it’s a little distracting but the atmosphere is still mostly there.
Final Thoughts:Man the guitar tone on this one, and just the overall sound, is really good, I feel. The level of crunch and fuzz on the guitars is juuuust right so that I can pick apart every rhythmic hit of the guitars just fine but they blend together just right to make this wall of noise that’s exactly what I want out of this kind of sound.
Okay, no, need to break from what I was writing because god damn when the really intense part of this one kicks in it’s just. Stunning, honestly. Mix that guitar texture in with some damn intense but pretty clean drums and the desperate shrieks of the vocals and it’s just. The perfect combination of what I want atmospheric black metal to sound like, honestly? I was going to get to the point in that last paragraph that I think this one has the best “sound” out of every track here but honestly this bit just exemplifies that perfectly.
If I had to nitpick the way the song separates its different musical passages with these short breaks of synth is a bit distracting. It doesn’t completely kill the flow of the song but it is very noticeable when it happens and every time the song is content to immediately shift to a different sound than before right after and there just, had to be a better way to transition, right? Right?
The last section of this is very cool too, it feels like a middle ground between the slower, more measured first section and the monstrous, out-of-control middle section, with constant driving riffs and drumming but not quite at the same frenetic pace. The piano melodies that come in in the background of the riffing are also nice little accentuations, there’s a really rich sonic texture to this segment that I particularly like too. Honestly I really feel that despite being quite good the first section is still the weakest part of this overall, it’s just that consistent and, uhh, great.
Like, what the heck, I’ve liked this one on all the listens I’ve given this thus far but nah, this is definitely the best track here. I don’t think it hits me quite hard enough to be 5/5 worthy (but honestly it’s possible I’m being stricter with those than is really reasonable) but it does get pretty close to it, and I mean, it’s a damn good score all the same.
Reward:
5. Mesarthim – Fragmenting First Impressions:Like I said I’d already checked out their latest and it was… well, I wasn’t sold on the style, mostly, so I am a bit worried about this one if it’s gonna be more of that same style. And yeah not sure about the synth bit at the start of this but the metal that kicks in is pretty solid, a lot of texture and fire to that guitar tone, wow. The synths work pretty well with the heaviness too, there’s an overall great sound to this. I definitely am more into this than I expected. When it goes back to the synth stuff I am again not so sure though. Electronic stuff in black metal can work well but this is straight up not the kind of electronic stuff I like, it’s like, EDM or something? Ehh. It works fine enough when the metal is there to balance it out though, it’s just that I don’t care for it on its own. A bit frustrated with this one, I think.
Final Thoughts:The transition between the Austere track and this one is pretty inspired honestly. The Austere track already has this stop-start thing going on throughout and the synthy atmospheric intro of this one mirrors that one perfectly, and then it just picks right up with the same 4/4 driving groove Austere ended with, only with – hear me out here – an even better sound, somehow. This guitar texture is divine and the drum production is friggin’ fantastic on top of that, the sparse bass kicks have a ton of oomph, the hihat is in just the right place, the snare is booming but not overpowering, leaving the guitars to still dominate the mix but not making the drums feel buried either.
And it has that synth line that serves the same purpose that the pianos were serving at the end of the Austere track, melodic accentuations on top of the rich sonic texture that just resonate really damn well. The vocals are again the raspy shrieks I most associate with DSBM, which, Austere also had, so yeah. I could complain about it sounding “samey” but it’s a sound I really, really like so like, I am not at all going to complain.
So if I have all these nice things to say about this song’s sound why did I place it so low on my rankings of this EP? Well.
Eeeehhhh I really just don’t think the more electronic stuff fits here at all. I called it EDM in my first impression but the tone is closer to Trance, I think? Either way. It pretty much dominates the entire third quarter of the song, even when the metal comes back in, and it’s not. Distracting when buried under the guitars but I’d rather it just straight up not be there. I don’t mind the electronic percussion even, so much as just the tone of that synth and the weirdly frantic energy the melody injects into a song that doesn’t quite feel like it needs it.
The last quarter of the song, with the doomier riff and the THUMPTHUMPTHUMP super intense bass is cool too, though. I do think the bass does end up being too loud here, it works better with the sparser hits because they have a lot of oomph but it is definitely overpowering here, though it gives this last stretch a more rhythmic feel to it than the first half had and that does make it at least stand out. I still don’t prefer it to the first half, but it’s cool, it’s cool.
So yeah my overall thoughts on this one: First half is probably a 5/5 on its own just due to the perfect sound and execution, the second half muddies that a little but it doesn’t ruin the song for me either, just brings it down a peg and makes it hard for me to enjoy the piece as a whole quite as much. It’s still better than The Crevices Below but considering I wouldn’t complain if it was trimmed to be like, an 8 minute song with the entire third quarter removed and maybe the last quarter shortened too, which I can’t really say about any song here, I can’t say it quite works for me as well as some of the others here. Still very good though.
Reward:
Overall EP Thoughts:First Impressions:I think by this point it’s clear I’ve made my point on what kind of black metal I like the most considering you’re doing your best to play right into the specific sound I prefer, and doing a pretty bang-up job with it, this one overall is a pretty strong EP and I’m already looking forward to revisiting it. It’s gonna be hard to write for since it’s, well, mostly atmospheric, though.
I suspect literally nobody else left in the roulette will like this one, but for me it’s going to be hard to top, this is just playing right into a very specific sound I like a hell of a lot.Final Thoughts:This is just straight up a good black metal album. It’s longer than most of the other EP’s, it’s definitely at least album length, and it is by no small margin the most cohesive of them all, to the point where, aside from maybe Cavernous Gate, they all aesthetically mesh almost perfectly to the point where they could all be from the same exact artist and I wouldn’t be surprised, and there’s a very consistent aesthetic and sound overall that very much makes it feel like one functional unit. There isn’t necessarily a ton of “transition” work done here but it also doesn’t feel like it needs it because the songs all very naturally start and end and flow together without the need for fancy editing… mostly due to their similar aesthetic overall. I also feel the overall structure of this is laid out well, Cavernous Gate does a good job ramping the EP up and Mesarthim definitely feels like it has the most climactic ending, and there’s a natural progression from least lush to most lush sound across each track too. I uhh. This is definitely among the best EPs I’ve ever been sent in any of my roulettes, maybe the absolute best, I’d have to go back and check. There’s really only one other EP here that I even consider in the equation of being potential competition and I don’t think it’s going to measure up to this one, either. Good job, damn. And this wasn’t even your first choice? What the hell?
EP Score Reward:
Total: 24/30Song Rankings:1.
Austere – This Dreadful Emptiness2.
Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man – Funny Time of Year3.
Blood Command - S01E02.Return.Of.The.Arsonist.720p.HDTV.x2644.
Cavernous Gate – Among the Decayed Grass5.
Coldworld – Climax of Sorrow6.
22 – Call Me Trimtab7.
Kashiwa Daisuke – City in the Lake8.
Mesarthim – Fragmenting9.
Jeff Buckley – Grace10.
The Midnight – Vampires11.
Wolverine – Communication Lost12.
Major Parkinson – Isabel: A Report to an Academy13.
Nils Frahm – Says14.
The Crevices Below – Below the Crevices 15.
Fireproven – Alone in the Dark16.
Keor – Terence17.
Perturbator – Vantablack18.
Oddarrang – Ohlop19.
Florence + the Machine – Seven Devils20.
Dreaming Madmen – Your Possessor21.
Scandroid – Atom & E.E.V.22.
Mother of Millions – Artefact23.
A Swarm of the Sun – The Worms Are Out24.
Perturbator – Femme Fatale25.
Voices From the Fuselage – Life on Titan26.
Au4 – So Just Hang On, Beautiful One27.
Port Noir – 1328.
Frequency Drift – Nine29.
Deathcrush – Ego30.
The Midnight – Tokyo Night TrainKey:
Bolsters –
Puppies –
Elite –
ariich –
Evermind –
Dacul