14/07/2021
Thank you Cvlt Legion
Album Review - Onirica - "Burn the Ashes"
(BlackMetal Catalog Productions (BMC Productions), VACULA PRODUCTIONS)
Are we dwelling in the mindlessness of existence, or does the intrinsic pain of being dwell in each of us? Time is our enemy and, no matter how much effort we put into slowing it, will take all of us into its wake. “Burn The Ashes” is a mournful, respectful and deeply burrowing panorama that purposefully sets out to answer this question.
Elevating, distinctive percussive presence signifies the swirling and billowing extremity that haunts “Burn The Ashes”. Sweeping guitars swell through the crimson ether as they expel blistering arpeggios and gruelling tremolo chords. Combining the harsh, broken winter of the black metal sound with the warm, climactic solos that go beyond metal conventions, akin to post-metal, as all six strings are furiously employed throughout as notes ring in a haze of cymbal rains and bass rhythms.
A caustic, hidden scream rises and falls from depths within as it portrays the sorrow and the scorn of black metal against the shoegaze backdrop, turning into blackgaze. Dynamics drift and the voice subsides, leaving a heady and translucent entrance to a solemn feast where voices murmur, synths condense and then build into the dark anthemic strongholds from which no respite can be found within the realm of atmospheric black metal.
“Burn The Ashes” is a broad painting that successfully captures the windswept, aural delusions of atmospheric black metal with the hopeful, unvanquished dreamlands of post-metal and blackgaze. Crafted exquisitely and deviating rarely from the blueprint of the genre, this bubbles and froths in every way it should, and resolutely refuses to boil over.
Good! 8/10
- Review written by Jaff66, also known as JJ Flames, senior reviewer at Cvlt Legion, member of the band Shadowflag, co-owner of Clobber Records, and owner of Chained Disintegration - https://chaineddisintegration.com/
- Edited by WellSeeYouLater, also known as Piers Andersen, editor-in-chief of Cvlt Legion and owner of Sarcophagus Recordings
I heard this album here - https://bmcproductions.bandcamp.com/album/onirica-burn-the-ashes
And here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxC8wLQM0bQ
