Darkness falls on New Zealand as to of its most most kvlt acts join forces on this Iron Bonehead-distributed split LP. Not only are both bands truly underground and creators of some of the darkest music to emerge from New Zealand, their respective styles of music are also sufficiently different from each other to ensure that the split does not become too monotonous.
Vassafor's contribution to the split has the form of two tracks on side A, and with song lengths of fourteen and eight minutes respectively, you can almost tell that this not going to be easily digestible music. Both tracks combine doom metal and kvlt black metal with elements of death metal. 'Ossuary in Darkness' is a gargantuan journey through musical darkness, as the band takes the listener through muddy black metal, oppressive doom metal, and occult death metal all the while a gargling growl accompanies the music. 'Son of the Moon' is a cover version of the classic Varathron track and thus takes Vassafor's contribution in a more melodic direction. Clocking in at twenty minutes, Sinistrous Diabolus' contribution in the form of 'Aeon Tenebris – Aeo Lacrimis' is a mammoth of a dark and brooding, and outright friggin' scary, atmospheric doom metal track which does venture into black metal territory at times, and at other times becomes nearly amorphous
The music that this split has to offer is definitely interesting. It is art, more than mere music, and it is stuff that you need to listen to intensely to appreciate. What ruins it a bit for me is the fuzzy lo-fi production. I get that its a part of the aesthetics of much underground metal, and that it adds both kvlt-ness and atmosphere, and it is probably just me who is not able to appreciate this kind of production, but I do think it is a shame that I cannot hear clearly what is going on. So, yeah, that ruins the listening experience a bit for me, but I know it's my own fault. So let's leave it at that, shall we?
Regardless of my own experience of this split LP, it is definitely recommended to fans of doom metal, black metal, atmospheric metal, and drone metal alike. If you are into dark, atmospheric, and challenging music, then check out this split LP.
Tracklisting:
Vassafor
1. Ossuary in Darkness (14:52)
2. Son of the Moon (8:37)
Sinistrous Diabolus
Aeon Tenebris – Aeo Lacrimis (20:32)
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