Festering for over 15 years these Finns have been growing ever more confident in their ghastly art and it has been good watching them grow. Having 4 albums, a host of split releases and even a compilation and live album under their bullet belts, prior to this, it’s time to dig in into ‘Fields Of Sorrow’ and put a covering of earth over the corpses they have laid to waste over their career so far. The first thing that strikes is the evident maturity on their fifth album. Not quite so full of gibbering lunacy, although it’s never far away courtesy of frontman B.R.F. along with Desolate bass and Profundiis drums, it seems that they have taken yet another step up., So the question is what will we find looming through the fog this time around?
The Cold Light dawns via a sombre mood-setting and slightly psychedelic keyboard intro before the band come in blazing with the marvellously titled ‘Gallows Poles And Shallow Graves.’ Blazing blackness and a great melodic thrust take form with howling vocals angrily swirling around in the background. This is embittered and rugged but sounds grandiose in poise and precision with it, making you well aware that the 50 minutes or so in front of you is going to provide an epic listening experience. Although not particularly grim, the sorrow is there for all to hear as the band stalk a battlefield littered with the dead. The keyboards here make an intriguing presence and this will grow along the journey as they take on some very intriguing facets that distinguish the music and show the group are not averse to trying something new and a bit different. Everything from fury to a calm and respectful air of sorrow are conveyed as we move into the ‘Abode Of Shadows’ and the restless dead are mourned. The fury rises and the hammer smashing cleave batters away, vocals howling disgust in the distance and plenty of atmosphere prevalent. Then it comes that odd sound previously hinted at, which I am not sure if conjured via the keyboards themselves or an actual Theremin. Yes, you know that wispy, weird old age b-movie sound that it makes and it definitely provides an interesting bedfellow calming down the blackness a bit and taking it all in a strange direction. Don’t be too alarmed though the next battering salvo is never far away and the Theremin sound is happy to flirt with the guitar tremolos and raucous vocal howls.
Elegance seeps into things despite the title that is ‘Ever-Returning Genocide’ and some gorgeous textures from the melody sweep the listener up and carry them off along with bruising bursts of violence. There’s also some flamenco sounds from the guitar playing and that keyboard sound twists and turns keeping us well and truly on toes and wondering what is in store next as we are dragged headlong into a psychedelic black vacuum. Black dreams surface via the short instrumental and companion piece ‘Mustaan Uneen’ & ‘Mustasta Unesta.’ Plenty of nightmares will surface over the duration and it’s storming and rousing stuff building into a rousing fist-pumping rhythm that really slaps around the head and vitriolically thrusts into full-blooded, glorious battle. What a track, ah if only to witness it live!
The musicianship here is excellent, at times I kind of wish slightly more definition in the vocals but then again there is so much going on as we move into the orchestral funeral of the title track that their lurking presence matches the overall sonic template well. Finishing with the outro of Gray Steppes the group have made their opus magnum here to date and in a year that has seen such great black metal making its presence felt amidst the end-times epoch of the world itself Blood Red Fog have well and truly ascended their throne. Where on earth can they go after this?
(8.5/10 Pete Woods)
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