Style: Black metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: Cold, desolation, isolation, slow death
Thoughts: Black metal comes in many shapes and sizes. Some is blisteringly fast with production that will make your ears ring for days. Other takes are so slow that they give funeral doom a run for its money. Most bands fall in between these two extremes, and Ancestors Blood is on the mid to slow side of the spectrum.
My overwhelming impression of Hyperboria is that this is a slow and cold album. The music never truly goes to what I would consider a fast pace and are content to plod along at a middling to slow pace for nearly the entire run time.
The first five minutes of the album don't even contain any metal. Instead we have an extended dungeon synth inspired intro where cold sweeping winds and freezing water comes in between the musical notes. It probably goes on for too long, but it does a good job of setting the listener up for the atmosphere of the music that is on the album.
When the metal finally does come in it's well produced, middle to slow paced groove oriented black metal that is dripping with keyboards and atmosphere. These guys specialize in open chord riffing blanketed in keyboards and winters frozen landscapes.
The overall structure for most of the songs is the same. 4/4 time signature with the drums playing a back beat to set the pace. The riffs chug along with the bass and snare drum to create almost a march type feel. The riffs themselves are full and open, creating a wall of sound type effect. Over all this is a thick layer of keyboards that compliment the guitar riffs with thick chords.
Repeat that formula about 8 times and you have Hyperboria. Is the music good? It's ok. Is it fun to listen to? Yes, when I'm in the right mood. That's the crux of it, I need to be in the right mood for this stuff. When I am though this style of black metal is super fun to listen to and hits a very specific need that few bands can.
Written December 1st 2023
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