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Atmospheric and melodic business.
Is melodic black metal still a thing? As Somber Vampyric Night by Ascalapha shows it seems it is. The album was originally released independently last year and now it is finally gaining a distribution.
The first sound for example, simply called Dark Moon, shows 3-minute unpretentious melodic song that doesn’t exactly function as an introduction as it is a proper song, but it sounds right as the opener, not too heavy and a little bit melancholic.
Caseless Drought goes to a faster and heavier territories without losing its atmosphere and one doesn’t need to be caught by the simplicity of the song, as it shows a lot, but, over again it is short in time.
The simply and repetitive Nameless Path is very cohesive with the whole album, but this time around returning to a middle-paced style with a familiar riff played before. Up to this point the album sound like the songs are just samples of themselves and the quality of this is that while one is get acquainted with the band, the assimilation can be very easy! The only fault here is the blatant machine drum while the drum fills are shown without other musical instruments as the song fades out.
The title track returns (to) true black metal biz, fast, with Darkthrone vocals from beyond, like an infernal curse, and the normies who like BM will sure admire this one. Although tokens of raw black metal, this song is in fact very melodic.
After the 2-minute Burzum-like interlude called Our Lives Intertwined, the band returns with more darkness in the beefy Noche Sombria that is the most complete of the album with changes of phrases and heaviness all along. This song summarizes the whole album.
For its turn, Una Vida Que No Es Mia, shows a very melancholic side of the band with sad keyboards and all the brouhaha, more like a gothic song than proper black metal.
Remorse is a track that is overflow with melody and the middle-paced to fast tempo gets the imagination of the listener. Kind of repetitive that’s what it is.
The album closes with a short postlude called Nightbringer very ambient a quiet.
This album is for those who are not radical. It won’t change the face of black metal either but is pretty decent and honest in its proposal and nobody will feel betrayed by the sound of Ascalapha.
Somber Vampyric Night is out TODAY on ATMF.
Rating: 7/10
preorder link:
https://metalodyssey.8merch.us/product/ascalapha-somber-vampyric-night-cd-pre-order/
Roderick Blutrache
Dark Souls United 