Style: atmospheric black metal
Primary Emotions/Themes:
Thoughts: Was it a fluke? Was the debut a fluke from these guys? Can they manage to keep the quality up for a second release?
These questions and more were going through my head as I played their second album "II" for the first time. The opening riff was quite different than I expected, more brutal, more straight forward, less hypnotic. I was a bit worried.
I think I was hoping for a clone of the debut with this record, this is not a close... but an evolution. The riffs here still display the same hypnotic character and the same blinding speed, but the atmosphere has changed ever so slightly. The riffs have mutated just a tad. The song writing remains excellent but again... has changed.
The band is less focused on the hypnotic riffs (though they still make up a vast majority of the album), as they have sprinkled in some near death metal riffs during the transition moments. There are also moments where the band truly slows down for a few brief instances and will throw another curve ball riff into the mix.
Is this a good or a bad thing? I'm still processing that question. This is certainly different, this is certainly something new for the band. It's not as laser focused as their debut, and I feel the band wanting to branch out a bit more with these songs.
That said, II still sees the band doing what they do best for a vast majority of the release. The hypnotic atmosphere filled riffs at blinding speeds still make up a good 80 percent of the album and that is very pleasing to my ears. Where I'm still making the final determination is these odd transitions that the band is "experimenting" with. These moments while still good are enough to throw me off from time to time, we'll see how I feel about them after more listens. Still a killer release.
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