This is the fourth album release from Perennial Isolation, the atmospheric black metal band from Barcelona. On top of their album releases, this is a seasoned live band.
After a sultry opener, the fire starts with “Autumn Legacy Underlying the Cold’s Caress”. Perennial Isolation don’t do half measures when it comes to track titles. The same is true of the tracks themselves. Black metal screams add darkness to an epic soundscape. This is music from the midst of a cold and desolate landscape. The scene is grandiose and magnificent. A turbulent scene is upon us again in “The Breathless Season Bane”. Perennial Isolation take us on a journey brimming with fire, breaking off momentarily for a haunting trip through the mists before the final exhilarating explosion of fury. Stylistically I was reminded of Thus Defiled who some may remember, Agalloch and most definitely Summoning. These songs are tight and a real driving force. “Unceasing Sorrows from the Vastness Scion” is more toned down, but focuses more on expanse and melancholy. The vocalist cries into the echoing gloom. Midway it breaks off into a windswept void with a solitary guitar playing a dark tune. The melancholy tone continues into “To The Withering Womb”, which this time rises into swathes of monstrous doom and cries of anguish. Both “Through Fire on Fire” and “Embers in the Slumbering Threshold” went through the now customary motions, I felt, creating a landscape of epic darkness and torment. This world is now familiar. “The Silent Solace” drives through the landscape powerfully, and is tinged with epic sadness. “Emanations from the Swallowed Twilight” lives up to its pompous name and provides one last piece of cold epic expansiveness.
“Portraits” is based on big, magnificent structures. Perennial Isolation use their black metal expanses to create a dark and tormented world. Personally, I found this world monolithic, but nevertheless this is an accomplished album.
(7/10 Andrew Doherty)
Leave a Reply