Black Lava is an experienced band with affiliations to many other bands, among them Vipassi and Million Dead Birds Laughing. Translated into genre, that broadly means instrumental progressive metal and technical death metal. Signs are that this second album from the Australians was going to have an extreme side, maybe in a black progressive way. The only way to find out of course was to listen to it.

“The Colour of Death” creeps up on us to begin with. The pace and atmosphere is Burzumesque with technical elements. The pace picks up and finally breaks through. The rancid rhythm still hangs in the air. The vocalist roars. The atmosphere is blackened and deathly, and full of repressed fury. “Black is the colour of death” is the message. So the scene is set. The death-black fusion continues with “Dark Legacy”. The guitar work gives the impression of hanging sword while the overall structure is a combination of forward driving death n roll, and a deathly stench. It’s mixed to good effect. “Wrapped in Filth” you could say, and conveniently that’s the title of the next track. The underscore is black in style. The withering rhythm reminds me a lot of Ephel Duath, as does the overall bleak and nasty ambience.

So let’s explore nightmares …. black metal discord, reminiscent of Mayhem bring about the spooky atmospheres. On top of this is the thunderous, deathly assault. This double and hyper-powered attack is “Unsheathing Nightmares”. The creepy vocals have the edge of Dark Fortress. Sharp in sound, this is indeed the stuff of nightmares. Unusually, the song titles are represented in the ambience of the titles so I had a good idea what to expect of “Summoning Shadows”. In fact, this one is more of a full out assault than I anticipated. Black Lava take no prisoners. A modern black metal sound along the lines of Khold follows. As ever with Black Lava it’s all mixed up and so the atmosphere is bleak, hard-edged and violent. Again I felt Ephel Duath in the sinister riff, and a Malsain / Farsot spookiness. “Pagan Dust” puts us atmospherically through the mill again, before “Sanguis Lupus” hits us with its ghastly eeriness. The band chant – as chaos and darkness surround us in musical form, this is the chant of a chain gang. The drum triggers. The deliberate guitar work signals evil. Dark whisperings are followed by explosion. It all points to sinister catastrophe. The title song closes the album. Quiet contrasts with explosiveness. There’s no light and dark. It’s just dark and sinister, menacing and eerie, and always extreme in its delivery. The sound is raw to a point but it’s sophisticated thanks to the cleverly intertwined overlaid elements and transitions. This is explosive sophistication. It’s an exciting ride.

Black Lava combine styles skilfully and maximise the effect of the malevolence they succeed in propagating. “Savage Winds to Wisdom” is a powerful multi-layered black metal album.

(8/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://www.facebook.com/BLACKLAVA00

https://blacklava-aus.bandcamp.com/album/the-savage-winds-to-wisdom