With this album, Californians Cailleach Calling (along with Ukrainian drummer Yurii Kononov) “fuse trancelike Emperial bludgeon with dreamlike melodic ambience, countering vocals of tether-end savagery with emotive, ethereal intimations of deep space”, we’re told.

The ambiance is distinctly black metal. The air is tense and intense as a wall of instrumental darkness passes through “Phosphenic Array” like a hostile wind. The drums blast with the intent of battery into submission. An eerie sound cuts through the background. The vocals are of the raspiest kind. They call it cosmic post-black metal. It’s certainly black metal, and its atmosphere is ethereal. If I have one criticism, it’s that we spend a long time in this same zone, and whilst this fits the theme and concept, it is an artistic creation and as a listener I like to feel my mind and imagination being expanded. “Bound by Neon” starts more dreamily before building up into the same hyper-charged tension as “Phosphenic Array”. Here the dreaminess adds a layer, and there is a welcome and transformation to take us further into this world for a time before epic violence erupts. This is more like it. “Bound by Neon” is a sensory feast. “Cascading Waves” takes us into a mysterious world of cosmic interference, electric storms and sombre sounds. Cascading electronic waves are indeed what this is, sweeping through our mind. A dreamy voice speaks of an enveloping “backdrop of nothingness” and “the infinite unknown”. This is an atmospheric and mystical piece. It is sad, haunting and moving, and representative of the waves and infinite voids. Nine minutes into the 15 minutes of “Cascading Waves”, there is an explosion into previously experienced black fury. I’ll give Cailleach Calling the benefit of the doubt about this transition. I kind of expected it, and stars do explode and all that, but in the fury there is majesty which assures an element of continuity. The ethereal reverberation is there, as well as a tinge of sadness from the lingering notes of this epic piece. By the end, the waves have well and truly cascaded. “Mercurial Inversion” reverts to the black metal whirlwind style of earlier on the album. Blasting and yet melodic, the striking thing is its intensity, a quality which runs through the album as a whole.

Maybe the differing styles are representative of the fragmentation of this album’s title. It is both dreamy and violent at different times. I felt a little that whilst at some points the album does not progress at enough pace for us to indulge our imagination, at others it does. So I’d say that “Dreams of Fragmentation” is a bit of a mixed bag with more that is interesting than not.

(7/10 Andrew Doherty)

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https://cailleachcalling.bandcamp.com/album/dreams-of-fragmentation