Arguably, never has an artist had so many projects as Maurice de Jong. Perhaps the most well-known of them is Gnaw Their Tongues. “A Lightless Crown Shuns the Crown of Divinity” is a symphonic black metal work from this man from the Friesland flatland, his third under the moniker of Golden Ashes and following the equally pompously titled “In the Lugubrious Silence of Eternal Night” (2020).

Church organs, symphonic sounds and blasting drums meet. It is lofty and bombastic, and of course dark in tone. The screeching vocals are made of agony. “The Spectral Catatonia of Unbearable Despondency” matches up to its grandiose title with a piece of epic gothic gloom and melancholy. The bombast is irrepressible, and true to form “The Day of His Glorious Wrath” starts in symphonically solemn tones of pomp. The black metal vocals cut despairingly through the lingering keyboard strains. The screeching gothic despair continues with the fabulously titled “Our Skins Hanging at the Gates of Csetiphon”. I must confess he’s got me with this reference. All I know is that Csetiphon is an old Iranian city which had lots of wars and sieges, and if this pomp-laden dirge is anything to go by, it all sounds pretty tragic. The mood is continued with “Bewildered We watch the Christ Ascend”. Black metal wailings accompany the swirling and haughty organ. The sense of being in a cavernous cathedral does not change, and “In Agony Beneath the Stars” reinforces this view. The black element reflects suffering, while the quasi-religious wall of noise represents domination and an overpowering force. The maniacal organist takes this further forward with “The Essence of Your Body Became Celestial”, with the addition of blasts and deathly growls. By now the idea is well and truly implanted of standing alone in a vast and cold space. The atmosphere is fetid and even static, as the final piece “The Twilight Pilgrims” goes through its grizzly symphonic motions.

The mix of symphony and black metal on this album depict an unremitting aura of heightened tension. I felt overcome by bombast after listening to “A Lightless Crown Shuns the Crown of Divinity”. The stylistic combination works, as both symphonic and black soundscapes equally lend themselves to extreme grandiosity, which is what we have here. My only reservation is that once this all-pervading atmosphere is established, I became accustomed to the environment and maybe even too comfortable with it as I put up my wall to deal with this monster.

(6/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://improvedsequence.bandcamp.com/album/a-lightless-christ-shuns-the-crown-of-divinity-imp055