I expect we are going to hear plenty of isolationist black metal hermits decomposing music during “the great plague of 2020” and this is one of them. Eschewing the normal social media route and indeed not even having a presence on Metal Archives, this is indeed an obscure entity, one that is conceived via No One it would seem and hailing from Birmingham UK. Eternal Black Transmissions follows on from a demo recording and 2 long tracks released at the tail end of last year as ‘Silent Choir’ In line with this, the release was available on very limited cassette and CD which naturally have sold out. Luckily at least those wishing to hear it have Bandcamp as a means. Eternal Black Transmissions is a melding of raw black metal and dark ambient which we are informed should be of interest to fans of Paysage D’hiver, Vintlechkeit & Revenant Marquis.

‘Rise Of The Godless Tyrant’ is an exercise in eerie ambience. Wind howls, strange brooding beats take us to an alien landscape and a strident humming sound fills the ears. There are funereal tones and a depressive air as though things are barren and void, its highly atmospheric and sends a cold shiver down the spine. There is description in the track titles to build upon a story of your own imagination whilst you are listening and at times even meditating to the sounds. ‘Lightning Scars Across a Dead Planet’ is one and this takes the raw black route with howling vocals in the background and storm of scything guitars and hammering drums up front. Vocals are suitably enraged and the velocity is furious, delivered via a caustic production that is full on and pushed to the limits. There are interludes during the frenzy so synthesized gloom can pervade and an air of maudlin abandonment is able to gently flow after the scorched earth settles from the elemental charge.

Very much rooted in aged black metal lore this takes back to times before light and the dawn of dangerous blackness. The hostility as heard amidst the likes of ‘Holy War of the Lesser Light’ could well be summoned from the unholy work of an artist such as Judas Iscariot whereas segments of ambience such as ‘Beyond The Spectral Veil’ bring a depressive Xasthurian shroud and calmness to proceedings. Extremity and atmosphere are really well combined here, one second the listener is being thrown into a pit of fire and the next the soothing touch of the grave brings some respite. Indeed, you can be floating along calmly before being jerked back to life by bruising force and coruscating rhythms as ‘Watching the Passing of Time as Light Leaving the Body’ painfully jerks you forcefully into a rude awakening. The lucid dreaming is never far away though and nightmares via slow pulsing tones are there to project you on an astral trip of the senses. Everything combines and flows into the final ‘Eternal Black Transmission’ a harrowing plummet with bouncy punk laden brute force as centre of gravity. Silence finally descends once more, was it all just a bad dream? Well it certainly leaves you unsettled and as far as I am concerned that is just what one should hope for from a piece of work like this. Experience it yourself via the link below.

(7.5/10 Pete Woods)

https://thesunsjourneythroughthenight.bandcamp.com/album/eternal-black-transmissions