Gespenst - Forfald
Not often I get to review sumthing from my own country (Denmark), and it´s not often that I get-down-and-get-black metal-dirty either... first time for everything right?!. So here it goes!
Gespenst hails from Denmark, Aarhus and contains 2 members from a doom metal band called Woebegone Obscured. And this release is the duo´s debut which was released back in August 2016 on CD, LP and digital via their Bandcamp site. Their limited LP version has been sold out, but can be obtained via Discogs for a reasonable price.
They describe themselves as playing dismal and angst-ridden black metal, with occasional doom metal and dark ambient elements. In other words; The perfect fusions of sub-genres for someone like me.
The first track Sorgens Taage (Fog of Sadness), starts off with an epic and melancholic driven black-metal guitar sound. A very traditional start with evolves into various styles (Further on). As stated before, undertones of atmospheric dark-ambiance lurk in the background while the heaviness of doom metal aesthetics pounds you flat on the ground. There is a slight sort of sludgy and shoegazer feel to the distorted guitar at times, which gives the track a unique sound. For the novice of black metal, I can describe it as something between Dissection and early Anathema. The aggression of black metal meets the ambient moods of early doom/gothic metal.
The next track Revelation of Maggots (My favorite) almost sounds like Autopsy is slow motion. A full almost 11-minute long piece of pure misery. Sounds and feels like you are looking into a black-abyss. Heavenly and apocalyptic guitar work gives the track a kind of soundtrack´ish feel, fantastic and epic synths supported by occasional acoustic guitar, agonized vocals. If anyone would do a modern Hammer-inspired horror flick, this could easily work for the soundtrack. The track even contains a sample from a horror movie (Which I can´t recognize), sounds like some sort of evil, occult driven and ritualistic scene going on. A fantastic track, and the best track on the album in my opinion.
The third track Min Sjæl Raadner (My Soul Rotes) follows up in the same manner as Sorgens Taage. Aggressive (but slow) black metal desperations clashes with the dismal world of doom metal. Again making use of the sludgy sounding guitar. With occasional dark-ambient inspired breaks in the track.
The last track (On the digital Bandcamp version) called Life Drained to the Black Abyss is probably (maybe) the darkest and most depressive treat on the album. As you can hear and see, there is no life in the black void. Nonetheless, a traditional and atmospheric black/doom metal treat ends the album nicely. I think it tries to follow up on the Revelation of Maggots track, but somehow missing the mesmerizing and melodic soundtrack workings of that track. A decent track nonetheless.
So there you go; A black metal album (Which in my opinion) suits excellent in these cold winter temperatures, where we are all forced to be inside warm living rooms and expose ourselves to old school horror movies or the literature work of either Poe or Lovecraft. Traditional black metal fans will love it, funeral doom junkies would dig it and dark ambient fans will find it tasty!. Recommended!
Bandcamp:
Facebook: