Tons of textures, bleakness, fury, and despair will permeate from your speakers when you slip Necronoclasts's latest black metal platter Haven into your CD player. Basically a one-man band (I kind of dig that term, 'one man black metal band'!) comprised of Greg Edwards, who sings and plays all the instruments, Necronoclast can best be described as Burzum meets Leviathan meets Xasthur meets Wolves in the Throne Room meets early Katatonia meets Opeth. OK, now that I have you really confused, what can you expect from Haven? For one, there's plenty of black metal chaos going on here, complete with stampeding blast beats, screeching, often times inhuman sounding growls, and manic tremelo picked guitar riffs. Sounds like your typical black metal record right? Well, sort of. You can also expect lots of textures and atmosphere thanks to some guitar effects and keyboards, but even when things slow down to a doom pace, the fuzzed out guitars and pounding drums add plenty of ambience and bleakness. Coupled with the violent, wailing vocals, this can be an unsettling listen, but one that you just can't turn your back on. A tune like "Nyctophobia" is so eerie and disturbing, as it combines raw, primal black metal with melancholic doom, that it's impossible to ignore. The gurgling growls of the Scottsman battles his surprisingly melodic guitar lines on the epic sounding "Entombed In Silence Above ", while the three part "Slashed By Shards Of Existence" is just a tasty slice of evil, textured, atmospheric black metal no matter what way you look at it.
Again, this certainly won't be for everyone, but if you have a penchant for experimental black metal, then you'll want to make sure you seek this Moribund Records release out.
Track Listing
1. Haven, The
2. That Which Crawls Among The Shadows
3. Nyctophpbia
4. Entombed In Silence Above
5. Beneath The Embers Of Time
6. Deathless
7. Slashed By Shards Of Existence: I. Wounds
8. Slashed By Shards Of Existence: II. Echoes
9. Slashed By Shards Of Existence: III. Exit
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