A man from Venezuela and later Chile who goes by the name of N is behind this. The accompanying blurb suggests something of different angles of black metal. Best to listen to it really, and then we’ll know.
As intros go, “Praeludium” is one of the most imperious and powerful ones I’ve heard. The same dark tones spill over into “Deafening Wailing of the Deafening Ones”. Musical pictures are painted of a terrifying and ghastly place. Rhythmically, the guitar line has us hanging on a string, but its ring is surrounded and enveloped by crashing violence and roars. A quick drum roll, and “The Depths of Selfishness” takes its course. Again, there is a heavy wall of sound and a tense atmosphere. It’s like a tornado passing through, as this stormy piece blasts its way through along like a juggernaut. There’s a neat tempo change about four minutes in when the storm subsides momentarily, but the darkness doesn’t. It’s anguished – this indeed is the translation of “angustia” in English – and epic. “Silent Soul Throes” starts with a drum-dominated section, transforming into another expanse of mass destruction. The sheer black turbulence made me think of bands like Axis of Perdition and Anaal Nathrakh. N’s work is from a higher plane, creating an image in my mind of devastated by empty landscapes. A noticeable feature is that these pieces have no conclusion. N sets extreme scenes in our mind, and they fade out. I’m not sure where they might end but the ending of “Silent Soul Throes” comes as a surprise as we’re in the middle of a psychological and physical battering. I can’t fault the intensity though, and “The Weight of Breathing” marches on as uncompromisingly as before. After a doomy and then a mystical passage, all hell breaks loose and we are pounded and punished from all sides. “Sculpting the Dirtiness of its Existence” takes us through the same scenario, before “Let the Pain Run Through” finishes off the job. The spooky guitar line reminded me of Malsain, but that’s just one part. I felt progression here more than any other, we are exposed to a mix of dark and haunting atmospheres over its eight minute course.
Without doubt “Relatos de Angustia” is intense and powerful, and well crafted, but the more I listened to it, the more I found myself stuck in the same place. “Let The Pain Run Through” was the exception with its added depth and colour, and I felt that in spite of its range of heavy atmospheres that was what this album needed to be really great.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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