Artist: Unholy Altar
Title: A Sullen Dark Sky
Type: EP
Label: Digital / Liminal Dread / Okanda Oden (EU distro)
New EP from a new-to-me black metal band out of Philadelphia who caught my attention through the usual randomness that is the internet and a cool photo. Gave it a spin, kinda fell for it straight away.
The first track is a long, moody intro, dark with atmosphere; a fine guitar tone, an eerie melody and enticing but somehow dangerous clean female vocals. It slowly drifts around you, teasing you to join it. Seductive perhaps being the word. You know it can’t be the right thing to do but it sounds so… so right….
‘Judas Iscariot’ winds up with a snarl and a deep, downbeat riff. A doom metal feel runs through the black metal somehow until the tempo switches and that eerie melody whirls you away. The drumming somehow entices me with the fine variation and the vocals are a twisting snarl dragged from the underworld. With an ebb and flow to the bass line tugging on the riff it is a weird and almost windswept riff somehow yet mired in the shadows. Definitely a fine, fine song.
‘Heathen’ switches hard to the chug, a stutter than rolls hard into a speedy riff that is pure black metal. Does this song reinvent what we think of as black metal? No. Does it make your blood burn black and long to be in amngst it live? Damned straight. It’s one of those songs that you just feel was built for the stage but still a damned good listen in your room.
‘Descent’ allows the guitar to wander, dropping discordant runs over a solid sound, a sharp hook sinking into my brain as they snarl and snap and you kind of feel the ground falling away in an uneasy spiral. With an unsettling mid section, full of old school sneer, its another excellent track.
The outro simply cements the EP, sealing it into it’s own dark mausloeum to await the next opeing.
I am very taken with this offering from Unholy Altar. It shows that adhering to the roots of black metal still works if you have the musicality and songwriting to raise up the devils within. They also show a real flair for the eerie and the unexpected in the instrumental aspects and the use of dark melody. Honestly give this a good listen and I’m sure you’ll quickly appreciate the fine band within.
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 