Glossolalia - Gold in the Throat (2010)
The Black Twilight Circle have made their signature, carved deep into stone with a whirlwind of musicians and ideas all trying to express themselves while also helping to do the same with one another. Each entity contains within them a few predilections with their label roster: lo-fi atmospherics, despair, fragile tones, creativity (it appears as if they all share the same nationality as well, like it is a prerequisite). Each band, however, have their own unique flavor. Glossolalia fits nicely under the Circle's banner, no doubt, and he (them?) can also work outside of that same banner with relative ease. Because this is a compilation of older material, dating back to 2007, it seems as if this material was unknowingly incarnated to fit into the grand theme of the Circle. It fits extremely well within the catalog while preserving a genuine theme all its own.
The guitar riffs all suggest a level of distinction in metal that transcends black metal convention altogether. The leads are fluidic and one of the definite high points of the album. If this was instrumental it would still be a good cassette, but that is not to say that the Vocals are not fitting, in all honesty any other vocalist would sound entirely alien. If Vidar Vaaer stepped in this tape would make a quantum leap and lose what makes it...it. The scabrous vocals circle the Guitars like vultures pecking at each other over a dead carcass, never getting locked up, continually sharp and distinct. Our vocalists aims stay stentorian from Resurrection and Reckoning to Ropes always making his voice silhouette those images he wishes to paint without ever dumbing it down and spelling it out for you. Every transition, both instrumentally and vocally, glides, no cracks or unnecessary pausing. Glossolalia's drumming is fairly common territory for American Black Metal. They are not so one-dimensional as to fall back or lack their own place in this world but the blast, although steady as a metronome, isn't anything that we haven't heard before. Fills are rare and the trampling bass kicks drive the pace in the right direction at all times.
Production is a familiar ground. It is raw but clear, something that seems as if it was plucked piecemeal from the Black Twilight Circle archives. This crisp rawness is not overly done as to be annoying, resulting in as near to perfection as one would hope to get with this style of music. No need for change, just refreshment. Throughout this tape, the ritual for nostalgia that penetrates so much of our modern Black Metal, gets inverted but one can still pick out each influence if they listen hard enough. The more music Black Twilight Circle release, the more they inch away from the competition. Their work is singular - of course this is basic, to the bones Black Metal - but there really isn't anybody else releasing any Black Metal quite like this. In a genre where the next sound is frequently imitated with no thought, what BTC does is not an easy thing to achieve.
The Black Twilight Circle have made their signature, carved deep into stone with a whirlwind of musicians and ideas all trying to express themselves while also helping to do the same with one another. Each entity contains within them a few predilections with their label roster: lo-fi atmospherics, despair, fragile tones, creativity (it appears as if they all share the same nationality as well, like it is a prerequisite). Each band, however, have their own unique flavor. Glossolalia fits nicely under the Circle's banner, no doubt, and he (them?) can also work outside of that same banner with relative ease. Because this is a compilation of older material, dating back to 2007, it seems as if this material was unknowingly incarnated to fit into the grand theme of the Circle. It fits extremely well within the catalog while preserving a genuine theme all its own.
The guitar riffs all suggest a level of distinction in metal that transcends black metal convention altogether. The leads are fluidic and one of the definite high points of the album. If this was instrumental it would still be a good cassette, but that is not to say that the Vocals are not fitting, in all honesty any other vocalist would sound entirely alien. If Vidar Vaaer stepped in this tape would make a quantum leap and lose what makes it...it. The scabrous vocals circle the Guitars like vultures pecking at each other over a dead carcass, never getting locked up, continually sharp and distinct. Our vocalists aims stay stentorian from Resurrection and Reckoning to Ropes always making his voice silhouette those images he wishes to paint without ever dumbing it down and spelling it out for you. Every transition, both instrumentally and vocally, glides, no cracks or unnecessary pausing. Glossolalia's drumming is fairly common territory for American Black Metal. They are not so one-dimensional as to fall back or lack their own place in this world but the blast, although steady as a metronome, isn't anything that we haven't heard before. Fills are rare and the trampling bass kicks drive the pace in the right direction at all times.
Production is a familiar ground. It is raw but clear, something that seems as if it was plucked piecemeal from the Black Twilight Circle archives. This crisp rawness is not overly done as to be annoying, resulting in as near to perfection as one would hope to get with this style of music. No need for change, just refreshment. Throughout this tape, the ritual for nostalgia that penetrates so much of our modern Black Metal, gets inverted but one can still pick out each influence if they listen hard enough. The more music Black Twilight Circle release, the more they inch away from the competition. Their work is singular - of course this is basic, to the bones Black Metal - but there really isn't anybody else releasing any Black Metal quite like this. In a genre where the next sound is frequently imitated with no thought, what BTC does is not an easy thing to achieve.
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