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░ ██ ██ Artist: A Transylvanian Funeral ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: Gorgos Goetia █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2013 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2015-10-10 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Black Metal ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: Forbidden Records ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Source: CD ░ ▄█
░ █▓ Type: Album ▓█ ░
▓ █ Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo █ ░ ▓
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ From the beginning of A Transylvanian FuneralÆs █
█ latest release, Gorgos Goetia, the immediacy of █
█ the black metal movement being on life support █
█ suddenly permeates my head again. It happens every █
█ time I hear the familiar strains of furious █
█ tremolo picking that makes the Carpal Tunnel █
█ surgeons rich and fat. I assign blame and copious █
█ amounts of eye rolling these days when I hear any █
█ black metal trying hard to recapture a lost art █
█ form some 20-years old. But IÆll tell you, as the █
█ CD went further on into the opening track I was █
█ much more impressed than I had been from the █
█ onset. █
█ First off, the one-man outfit does absolutely █
█ nothing new or innovative on the record from what █
█ youÆve already heard a million times (to be well █
█ expected), but therein lays the interesting █
█ nuances, scattered nicely between musical sermons. █
█ I dig the vocals; the harsh familiarity is nothing █
█ we all havenÆt heard before, but over the swell of █
█ well-structured music throughout (albeit totally █
█ mid-to-low-fi) there is a pretty interesting █
█ collective here. ThereÆs a certain howling and █
█ airy element to the songs, and this is █
█ particularly resounding in ôLight Cast Outö, which █
█ is something straight out of the Leviathan book of █
█ malevolent tonal warfare. The guitar wailing out █
█ those lonely and forlorn notes in the mid-section, █
█ as the backing arsenal creeps up the spine and █
█ lays out the horrid design, is just the sort of █
█ encompassment that a modern CD of this music needs █
█ to hold your interest. This has to be one of the █
█ more eerie black metal tracks to pass my ears in █
█ as many months. ThereÆs a real horror attached to █
█ the tone of the song, and it fast became one IÆd █
█ consider in the darker parts of my average evening █
█ skulking ion shadows, real and imagined. █
█ As for the rest of the CD, the flow is pretty █
█ good, cascading back and forth between eras of old █
█ Norse/Swedish black metal and newer, expected █
█ sounds, but every now and again the proverbial █
█ wrench gets tossed into the works to send your █
█ senses into temporary overdrive as you get shaken █
█ from a near-fatal lull of ADD. The spoken word in █
█ ôThe Supreme Art of Transmutationö was a nice █
█ pick-up for the fans among us who tend to think █
█ ahead of the music and get bored too easily, and █
█ if thatÆs the case then black metal certainly █
█ isnÆt for you. I can also certainly hear the █
█ typical USBM punch all over Gorgos Goetia╕ which █
█ is fine when that particular sound is stamped in █
█ your mental reservoir for safe keeping. IÆll █
█ further say that this music far surpasses anything █
█ currently wasting miles of tape and digital space █
█ in basements all over the planet. There is a lot █
█ going on in here that sounds disturbing, haunting █
█ and thin, just as this music calls to be. █
█ With the less- predictable black metal production █
█ leading the way, the album isnÆt exactly a poster █
█ child for the perfect encapsulating sound, but █
█ then it wouldnÆt be your fatherÆs black metal, █
█ would it? The charm here settles in the ambience █
█ and aura stirred up within, and this CD does the █
█ trick. For the studious disciple of the black █
█ metal arts, you will find this CD somewhat █
█ familiar, yes, but wholly darkened and █
█ legitimately worthy of inclusion in your hallowed █
█ library. █
█ A Transylvanian Funeral picks apart the sensory █
█ equation and breaks it down into the lowest common █
█ elements: a black, surreal effort that can lead █
█ you to a few select places unknown and wildly █
█ fascinating. █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. Cold Blood and Darkness 3:34 ░
░ 2. Burning Astral Hunger 5:52 ░
░ 3. Light Cast Out 5:33 ░
░ 4. The Supreme Rite of Transmutation 5:26 ░
░ 5. Fear 6:16 ░
░ 6. Mars Exalted in Capricorn 7:53 ░
░ 7. Moonchild 7:06 ░
░ 8. Night Hags 6:29 ░
░ 9. Percival in Black Armor 7:55 ░
░ 10. Ten of Swords 5:26 ░
░ 11. Hymn to a Gorgon 7:21 ░
░ 12. Goliath Resurrected 4:01 ░
░ 72:52 ░
░ ▒ ▒
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