Semi-hiatus

As explained on the left hand bar, the territories of Vehement Conjuration are silent for a while. Things will pick up again after May 24th and even more after the first days of June. The silence is not total, however: there may be a few reviews during this period. Apologies to those parties who've sent their material to me and haven't seen anything yet - I'll be working on them whenever time allows. Speaking of which, if you're in a hurry to get your album reviewed, then you better wait to contact me in the beginning of summer instead of now, unless you're willing to wait for the text a while. For general contacting needs, I'm available via e-mail daily.

Thank you,
Vehemency

VESANO: "Gritos do Tempo"

In spite of revering depressive black metal during a long phase years ago, my current liking of it is pretty much limited to a very few exceptions of authentic, dead coldness akin to Hypothermia, or bands that utilize sadness to a moderate level, but never going to superfluous degrees of mere wailing. Hence an album like Vesano's Gritos do Tempo could have affected me much more strongly had it come out a lot earlier, as by now it is very challenging for any band to craft a great whole with such a simplistic scheme rehashed a myriad of times.

The elements that total Gritos do Tempo are, indeed, of basic depressive / suicidal black metal pattern: you've got the distorted, slowly plucked guitars on top of slow beats, vocals shrieking their hopelessness in high-pitched screeches. Moments of foray from this style are very few and far between, if present at all. Moreover, the lack of brevity (these songs spanning from five to ten minutes) is only to the detriment of the whole as the length conceals the rare moments of shining. These occasions are usually the payoffs of tracks concluding in their most epic proportions, but I'm afraid that hyperbolic phrase is misleading as there's not much 'epic' here in the end. This is rather stable wandering with very minimal shifts in dynamics.

Those still fond of the subgenre at its most basic, core form, should logically ignore my ever-astringent words against the musical style presented herein, but those who share similar ideas in relation to DSBM with yours truly can take heed of my criticism. There's probably not much to discover here. To look at Gritos do Tempo from a more positive perspective, it sounds pretty good. The primitive drums reverb just about as much as they should on an album of sluggish pace, and neither will I nag about the vocalist's delivery that reeks of convincing frustration. However, this isn't enough in creating a great record, as the compositions themselves are somewhat inconsequential.

2.5 / 5

PERDITION WINDS: "Perdition Winds"

You may recognize the musicians of Perdition Winds from various death and thrash oriented underground acts such as Lie in Ruins, Neutron Hammer and Desolate Shrine, but in this particular case they've grouped to manifest occult reeking sinister black metal without much links to the above-mentioned genres of 'catchier' nature. This is crawling in moderate tempo, never rushing to any lively riffs nor solos, but just focusing on the efficiently evoked atmosphere of darkness.

After the rather general intro (that the EP could live without, I think, as it eats quite much of the overall length already), ”Purification” starts its ominous riffing which is soon backed up by blast beats and very low-end growls, around the pitch of Hate Forest. The moderately professional production and discordant riffing nods to the direction of many recent religious black metal groups à la Ondskapt, and thus there's not much uniqueness in the riffs. That's not a definite hindrance however, as it still sounds authentic, and I love the way how e.g. this song and ”Corrupted Image of God” flow seamlessly together thanks to a lurking acoustic guitar pattern in between. So where Perdition Winds suffers in its, well, unoriginality, there's plenty of thoughtful ideas here that lure for replay, to discover more what this mysterious creation possesses within. The self-titled ”Perdition Winds” and ”Path Revealed” conclude the journey without much changes in the style of malignant and rather modern black metal, though it is worth mentioning that the latter belongs to the EP's best moments, incorporating some latently melancholic flavours.

The production is what rises to the EP's only proper fault as it lacks the punch of all instrument: they're all somewhat muffled in a distance, creating a rather suffocating tone that, on the other hand, has its own charm, as an intangible evil spirit, but I still believe this would have sounded better with a more punishing sound. All in all, Perdition Winds isn't the most peculiar EP out there right now, but with a line-up of this high quality I'm sure they're able to pull out a great full-length – here's to hoping that such will come, that is.

3.5 / 5

BLACK HOWLING: "This Rain Is the Weeping of Forefathers"

Black Howling has certainly not stayed inactive during these recent years, with various, both major and minor, releases in very close history. This Rain Is the Weeping of Forefathers is another full-length of theirs, the Bubonic Productions sect Discipline being behind its release again, having produced a sweet looking black & white layout with nicely detailed graphics, a tease to the eyes of a fan of underground black metal aesthetics.

Musically, not much has changed: it is ugly, lengthy, seemingly disorganized, chaotic. The most prominent difference resides in the production which is somewhat more bass full, slightly oriented towards a low-end spectrum. This evokes a daunting, oppressive atmosphere, instruments hammering like a bludgeon. Of course, this is a very subtle difference and a casual Black Howling passer-by will not notice any change in respect to earlier material. The band has also incorporated some faster sections inside the crawling, ominous music, resulting in swift and charmingly clumsy blast beats. 

As expected, a long breakdown appears in the middle, after which the album welcomes its most impressive moment as the almost romantic piano notes are played on top of the discordant black metal mess. Guitars are this time around more lively than ever, providing multiple twirling solos (!) and, weird enough, they fit in very well. The consequence of the pianos and solos at the latter half of the song is almost euphoric: it is pure grandiose melancholy towards the song's end. The song tricks you into thinking that it concludes around thirty minutes but no, another epic section bursts in with some keys in the background, somewhat similar to A Soul Departed to the Unknown. Then the metal disappears, and what is left is some feedback, those Burzum esque key notes, and the hum of rain - the weeping of forefathers.

In a way, I see This Rain Is the Weeping of Forefathers as a pinnacle of the band's career so far. It dares to be a single composition of over 35 minutes, torturing the listener with its highly distorted and thus latent beauty. Whereas the band has never delivered anything I actually wouldn't have liked, this time all things seem to have fallen into their very right places. It isn't catchy or anything along those lines, but a perfect soundtrack to certain states of mind.

4.5 / 5

BLACK HOWLING: "The Reclaiming of Our Ancient Glory"

Although Black Howling's discography has lately been enriched with a lot of CD releases, there is still a clear adoration of the tape format which, admittedly, suits perfectly the band's harsh black metal that also thematically resides in the times and values of old. The Reclaiming of Our Ancient Glory is structurally in proximity of the band's other recent output in that it is a continuous, flowing half an hour song with focus on atmosphere managed by the sweet use of repetition as well as overall harshness.

What, then, differentiates The Reclaiming of Our Ancient Glory from some other Black Howling releases of late is that, despite being a limited and obscure tape, it is very coherent and, well, relatively dexterously played. The charming element of chaotic clumsiness is this time not much present, as the swiftly executed (and surprisingly audible) tremolos fade in in the beginning. Speaking of which, the riffing is of exceptional level here. There's a lot of melancholy and pride in them (further conveyed by the haunting synths in the background), as well as piercing high-note evilness as the riff at around thirteen minutes suggest. An incredibly sweet, reverby interlude of distortionless plucking happens before the twenty minute mark until it builds up again to the harshness like a Black Howling track is supposed to do. Lyrically, the demo is strong as well, beginning with depictions of vast, lush landscapes, later to more overtly hail the times of old over the decadent present.

"The swords that were hidden for centuries

Will eventually find a way to meet our hands.

Ancient wolfish instinct will guide us

On a path where the glory of Europe will rise."

It amazes me that a composition of this level is only available on a hard-to-obtain tape, because I do think that The Reclaiming of Our Ancient Glory surpasses a few proper CD releases of the band. If some of the Black Howling you've heard seems too messy and indecipherable, then I'd suggest to look for this one. Adorned with simple black and white layout, comprising quality underground black metal with some actual ideology, I don't find many faults here. The music isn't hundred percent unique (though Black Howling does have their own touch always), but it doesn't have to reach toward being different. It is proud of its roots, both in the context of black metal and heritage.

4 / 5

BLACK HOWLING: "A Soul Departed to the Unknown"

In addition to the full-length Melancholy of a Pagan Bucolic Spirit, another release, named A Soul Departed to the Unknown, came out at the same date, offering a single 18-minute piece of raw, inconsistent, wandering black metal as Black Howling as always, and a sweet supplement it indeed is to the full-length, conveying atmospheres of even darker, more haunting territories than the nature centered album.

A recurring mysterious melody, though very obscurely audible by guitars, is prominent thanks to the underlying bass guitar and the synths, kicking in the EP in raw, next to indecipherable mess of a production. It is spacey, gloomy, and requires proper attention - listening to this with bad speakers is no option, unless you're aiming for harsh noise wall or a similar subgenre... The song retains its somewhat structured form (a basic beat in moderate tempo and distant unhinged screechs along with the other instrumentation) until around seven minutes when things (hell) get loose and all seems to be partially improvised chaos, and it works to great extents! Slowly, the songs shapes up again, gradually involving the ethereal keyboard notes in, tom drums pummelling in the background. The final explosion doesn't happen until the shivering moment at 15:30 when the brisance shatters the black metal chaos all around, and some time later fades out.

From the above it becomes evident that this is no worthless additional material paling in the shadow of the full-length, but an actual, individual Black Howling release deserving the same attention as any other output of theirs. To some degree, I even think it beats its big brother, though these two aren't distinctively comparable, as explained by their subtly different thematical approach. Some criticism could be directed to the packaging, the CD being in a DVD case which isn't to my personal likings as it makes shelving a pain in the ass, but this nagging is of course in minor role as the focus is on the music which is once again quality Black Howling, recommended to the explorers of the Portuguese underground that never stops delivering.

3.5 / 5

BLACK HOWLING: "Melancholy of a Pagan Bucolic Spirit"

Black Howling is another prominent act in the fields of raw Portuguese black metal. While the short while ago reviewed Satanize, for example, accelerates in swift songs, Black Howling is the antipode in that their songs tend to widen to over twenty minutes in length, the desperate atmosphere further conveyed by a rather slow pace. Melancholy of a Pagan Bucolic Spirit is a full-length in that very vein, comprising two long pieces that challenge the listener in both its rawness as well as duration.

A creepy intro crawls in on the eponymous first song, and right around the first minute mark the slowly picked, massively distorted guitar pattern billows to the listener's ears. This is the main line, this ominous and simple line, that gets repeated to near eternity with subtle variations - but only in a good sense, as I personally am a lover of the effect of repetition in black metal. The song surges forward with inhuman rasps of the vocalist, until a kind-of-breakdown around eleven minutes, after which the guitars also incorporate some higher notes into the slowly swinging rhythm, and there's also some palm-muted riffage momentarily. "The Shadow I'm Meant to Be" follows its predecessor with almost disturbingly similar guitar work, but of what I'm particularly fond of here are the clean vocals that appear for a very short while when the drummer takes a break.

Disgust and gloominess - these are some of the main elements that dominate Melancholy of a Pagan Bucolic's sound sceneries, and the listener can only genuflect in front of the guitar walls' power. Although there's nothing ingeniously unique in the melodies themselves, the whole is a very affective piece of black metal that authentically shows its contempt of modernity, but also the glorification of pagan ancestry. Where the album stands in the light of Black Howling's back catalogue, I am not entirely sure as their output is consistently enjoyable, but a sure thing is that a fan of this duo can't go wrong here. It contains less additional sound sources if compared to e.g. the 2012 full-length's piano notes, so Melancholy of a Pagan Bucolic is Black Howling in its purest essence: noisy, atmospheric black metal with basic instrumentation.

3.5 / 5