Obolus - Lament (2012)

EP, Flenser Records
February 1st, 2012

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Region: USA

So the gentlemen over at The Flenser have just made the first EP from newcomers Obolus available for free for a limited time. Their 2011 demo was very promising and for those who were waiting for the next release you won't be disappointed.

Opening with the sound of rainfall and sprinkling these samples throughout the 20 minute crawl, soaring mournful atmospherics are what you'll encounter in Lament. Building on the strong foundations of their demo and pushing the screaming guitars and drum blasts alongside spectral shrieks to extreme levels before settling down for a slower, depressive journey. Brief moments of shaky clean riffs evoke dark and misty mountain ranges and abandoned, haunted cabins long neglected.

Lament then can shift to rawer levels of black metal as well as the riffs conjure storms of pain and grief, pummeling the listener with relentless barrages of percussion, subtle keys and animalistic screams. Darkly melodic and smothered in foggy sadness it is a great progression of their style.

As with the demo, Lament's approach to the genre is to concentrate the hazey, damp ritual of modern black metal into far shorter songs than is the norm without losing any impact and indeed sometimes increasing it.

Highly recommended. A powerful, focused and sorrow filled release sure to be one to creep into the top  of many fans' lists this year. The vinyl release will be coming up soon so keep watching The Flenser for news on it's arrival, until then listen to this wicked record on Obolus' bandcamp and download it for free.

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DOWNLOAD (Mediafire)