Sometimes I think calling something experimental is basically code for ‘it sucks, but I meant it to suck’. Other times though I can truly immerse myself in it. In recent months I’ve fallen in love with the underground Goregrind scene on Bandcamp, as well as Harsh Noise, The Residents, and a whole load of other weird stuff. In part I think it’s because it keeps things alive in my brain. Instead of pulverising my mind with the same old Death Metal riffs, I never really know what to expect.
As such I was very pleased to be offered to review the latest album from Blackened Death Metal experimentalists Veilburner. This occultist duo from Pennsylvania have been going since 2014 and since then have pumped out album after album, no EPs, no demos, no time wasting in my opinion. However, this fifth full length Lurkers In The Capsule Of The Skull is the first time I’ve come across them. Put out through the ever-reliable Transcending Obscurity Records is it going to tick my boxes?
In The Tomb Of Dreaming Limbo doesn’t really waste any time and I appreciate it. It blasts in with borderline Grindcore aggression mixed with Symphonic Black Metal and Death Metal spew. Overall, a pretty stunning mix and one that fits my tastes very well. Nocturnal Gold adds in some stranger instrumentation with some unique bass work as well as more unconventional instruments, it keeps the album fresh. I actually prefer the oddities to the Metal itself, maybe that’s my current music obsessions shining through but the Metallic moments are certainly a like generic. Cursed, Disfigured, Amen! which just sounds like the title of a Behemoth song has a few more Avant-Garde patches, playing with further electronic type sounds which again overshadow the Metal.
Crossing into the second half after the titular track is Para-Opaque, again more of the same strange hypnotic experimental weirdness. A highlight of the album I would have to say but nothing that is reinventing the wheel. An Odyssey Through Cataclysm kind of gives me exactly what I’ve been wanting the whole album, an actually maniacal, odd, spluttering of Blackened Death grit which breaks the monotone surrounding Metal. Actually, this is a bit of a turning point as Vault Of Haunting Dissolve gives us more bizarre chaos. The final song Dissonance In Bloom isn’t all that much to write home about but it is at least consistently strange and I commend the band for that.
All in all I’m a bit confused, I like parts of it and yet I couldn’t care less for others. Normally my views aren’t quite so far apart when reviewing an album. I have to say though I think that Veilburner should aim to go even bigger on the next release. As a Metalhead I’m used to Blackened Death Metal and the moments where this album pushes that genre are the most exciting. I’m not saying that all Blackened Death is dull or anything, but if you’re going to try and steer the genre in new directions go all the way rather than part. If you’re not the biggest fan of Avant-Garde in Metal then this could serve as a brilliant gateway into the weirder side of music though.
(7/10 George Caley)
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