It is easy to notice how much Drowning
the Light has developed throughout the last few years. Lately I've
been listening to their (or back then, his) 2007 albums, those
scruffy sounds and cheap drum machines of e.g. A World Long Dead and
To the End of Time, and when compared to such late efforts as their
brand new Oceans of Eternity, the difference in quality is tangible.
While the embryonic material has its own charm, the 2011 version of
the band is heaps better when it comes to the compositions.
The sound is, however, still really
lo-fi, the guitars and steady blast beats like a distant waterfall,
so Drowning the Light hasn't really done any compromises; in fact,
the production is more lo-fi than on An Alignment of Dead Stars.
Oceans of Eternity continues in the vein of the latest full-lengths,
this particular style in which they embarked on on The Blood of the
Ancients two years back: largely melancholic and epic, at times
almost melodramatic, underground black metal that momentarily gets
into harsher, menacing sections. On this newest effort, things start
familiarly with ”As the Shadows at Dusk Reach Our Enemies Throat”
and its tremolo laden epic guitars as well as choral synths. The
following title-track includes the first properly aggressive riffs
but only for a while, and then ”The Cataclysmic Cycle of Renewal”
and ”Oppression & Tyranny” get the mood back to the melodic,
familiar soundscape. The latter is a particularly depressive and
rather slow-paced piece.
Just when things could easily turn into
dullness due to the repetitive nature of the songs, ”The Key Still
Not Found” brings something new to the table. It is comparably a
more haunting piece, and especially so when the ending part kicks in
with its Atra and Ill Omen esque graveyard atmospheres: rotting,
ghastly black metal! This highlight of the album does not lose at all
to ”The Lunatic Tide” that also incorporates a tad deviant
riffing from the usual Drowning the Light scheme. ”Drifting Away in
a Sea of Sorrow (Part II)”, a peaceful interlude pays homage to its
first part from An Alignment of Dead Stars and serves as a welcome
breathing moment until the last black metal pieces of the album, ”The
Poison Kiss” and ”The Runes Are Thrown & the Bones Are Spread
(A Hymn to the Apocalypse)” start, these two ending the album in similar compositional
style as the journey began: climatic choral synths atop the ringing,
beautiful melodies and Azgorh's trademark rasps.
In all aspects, Oceans of Eternity is
your very traditional Drowning the Light album, but heck, I can not
deny the power of these riffs this time. There's been plenty of
fillers on previous efforts, but this album seems like a really
concise whole of thoughtfully chosen material. I find the album to be
quite a perfect example of well-done underground black metal, a fist
to those faces who claim that black metal requires something
essentially new and refreshing to be good.
4 / 5
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