I wasn’t specifically asked to review this but as a download code was sent and I immersed myself in this split release by two USBM naturistic one man projects it would really have been rude not to especially as it took me on a bit of a voyage far removed from my present surroundings. This is available via a pay your own price bandcamp link (included at end of review) and also on limited cassette with just 75 available from Into The Night Records. If you fancy one of the latter you best moved quickly, indeed they may well have been all snapped up by now.
Starting off in Tennessee and inspired by that Appalachian mountain environment that sole member Ravenwood exists in Twilight Fauna [7] have been quite a consistent project releasing four albums to date as well as splits with the likes of Filsufatia, Crown Of Asteria, Valkynaz and Null. ‘Blood From Stone’ is the shorter piece here and is incredibly atmospheric giving us an Americana acoustic guitar strumming melody that makes me want to head to a bottle of Bourbon, swig away and chill out to its delicate twang. With a real lush tone and gentle chanting in the background it’s a track to close your eyes to and flow away to a place that almost seems untouched by civilisation, a folk song from bygone times, this could be a classic old song sung by pioneers discovering rich new fertile lands. Breaking into more of a jaunty refrain with accompanying pipe trilling in the background it’s far removed from black metal as such but happily co-exists with its spirits and atmosphere. This leads on to the much more expansive and near 12 minute long ‘A Revelation (Conceding the Stars)’ which has a fuzzy slow and monolithic guitar layer at complete odds with the last piece as it’s amped up presence rumbles in. Rasps are heard low in the mix and there’s a doom laden melody behind it all. Flirting between this and a much cleaner middle passage, which lightens into a chilled acoustic but ultimately sad and ghostly keyboard part it’s a song of disparate but intertwined moods and emotions and is quite a captivating listen.
Off to Kentucky and with the bourbon as necessary as ever it’s time to visit Old Thunder [7.5] next. With much less output as yet than Twilight Fauna the work of Dustin Grooms did impress with debut EP Slings And Arrows so I was certainly keen to hear more. ‘The Inheritance Of Ashes’ has a weeping guitar line behind it which really reminds a fair bit of My Dying Bride, bass is also well defined and heavy next to it and melody is certainly on the depressive side with a sense of abandonment working well with the track title and indeed the artwork of the overall split. Everything drops in and thick rasps join with the musicianship, this is not that far from funeral doom as much as anything else and it has the necessary weight and gravity to back that up. Production wise this is very much thicker than the raw side of things displayed by Twilight Fauna and although both styles suite each band there is more of a feel of substance here. Some acoustic fretwork is utilised here as well to add a different texture to the dense depressiveness and it makes the rage filled and distempered conclusion of the song all the more hefty. ‘Burnt Bone Garland’ an excellent title that brings all sorts of visions into my head (none of them particularly pleasant) has a feel of total abandonment from its maudlin opening guitar strum to the volatile ranting vocals and slow pulverising drumming. This was the kid who was left alone as his parents went boozing to be left to his own devices getting pleasure from torturing animals. He’s just about to make the transition to humans and the folk who neglected bringing him up are first on the list before he walks out spitting on their charred corpses to embark on further bloody mayhem. Well that’s where this quite potently took me and perhaps it’s just as well there were only two tracks. Having said that it looks like Old Thunder is poised to release an instrumental four track too, which you will also find at the following link.
https://oldthundermetal.bandcamp.com
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