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Feeling of doom and misery
in new and intriguing ways.
Stielas Storhett, the one man Russian Black Metal project of Damien T.G. , really deviates from his norm with
"Expulse". Collectively there are more moments of total experimentation than traditional Black Metal. What is undeniably different from the moment I pressed play on the first track is the very polished production quality of this recording. It doesn’t seem as if he was straining to be more ‘kvlt’ than his genre mates as before. He has bravely pushed the limits and pleasingly so. Without losing touch with the raw spirit of his previous releases, he established the same over arching feeling of doom and misery but in new and intriguing ways.
The start of the track one begins and sets the mood with the screams of a girl in obviously excruciating agony because that’s the feeling this record permeates throughout, agony in its most acute form. As an aside, I usually listen to the music I’m reviewing quite loudly and it took me by surprise when those shrieks suddenly burst from my speakers. I about tripped my self scrambling across my apartment’s living room to turn it down. I could only imagine myself trying to explain the commotion to my landlord ! There’s a fair warning to those who buy it. But as ambushing as that was, the real surprises come after. The musical direction of this album is very classically inspired.
There are allot of interludes that remind me of old psychedelic rock with soaring passages that feature a clean electric guitar and even some acoustic bits. There are some areas that border on ‘easy listening’ although it’s colored dark and done in a way that is still cold, melancholic, and desolate. What really surprised me is the use of a saxophone on the title track, at least I think it’s a sax. I haven’t ever heard one used by any metal band of the more extreme genres but I can’t condemn or praise its use. Although, I feel like it didn't fit in well and seemed out of place.
Considering all that, this album is solid in maintaining a weighty and chilling atmosphere. It seems genuine and not like it’s trying to emulate early Burzum as on previous releases. Its for sure a progressive take and weaves allot of varied influences together into a tapestry of the gravest material. But I actually would say it’s so far ‘progressed’ from the archetypical BM, that it has become something completely different. You could say its a type of atmospheric guitar rock that has elements of BM rather than BM that has elements of atmospheric guitar rock added. Either way, It is memorable and Stielas Storhett has really put his toes right on the edge.
8/10
written
by Gary Saul 
Gary
Saul is
reviewer
for
gryphonmetal.ch. and based in the
U.S.A. he can be reached on facebook.
September
2011
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