Style: Atmospheric black metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: Like listening to black metal under water or in slow motion
Thoughts: Well this certainly is an interesting album. Interesting good? Interesting bad? I haven't really figured that part out yet.
Count Vornok was a black metal/dungeon synth band that had a distinct beginning and end from the moment the project was conceived. The first album (which I have not heard) was to be the introduction, followed by this opus. The trilogy was closed out by a dungeon synth EP. That is the entire scope of the Count, and I respect the hell out of bands that have a distinct arc predetermined when they start making music.
Now then, where does that leave us with Towards the Black Vaults of Angorn? The first order of buisness is the guitar tone. This has to be the only black metal album I've ever heard that uses this kind of tone. It's deep... exceptionally deep. It feels like it was processed under water or in slow motion, it's really unlike anything else I've ever heard within black metal.
Along side the guitars we have melodic keyboards that mostly play a backing role but will sometimes offer a melody. They add to the music's somewhat distant and somewhat mysterious feel. Now that I think about it, the production is seemingly another take on the obscure productions of the second wave bands. It's difficult to make out the individual aspects outside of the vocals and drums, in some strange way it mimics the raw production of the early black metal artists of the late 80's and early 90's.
In many ways I'm used to the standard black metal production qualities, I've cracked the code so to speak. Raw music hardly feels raw anymore, and I can for the most part follow along with all the different instruments. Count Vornok is different though, this is obscure in a different way. The guitars and the keys are blended together in new ways that I haven't heard before, and to be honest I'm here for it. Maybe this interesting good after all.
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