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Twilight: Monument to time end

09/06/10 || Khlysty

Before going to the actual review, I want everybody to know that Twilight is kind of a USBM supergroup, the core of which is Wrest (Jeff Whitehead – Leviathan, Lurker Of Chalice), Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) and N. Imperial (Neill Jameson – Krieg, N.I.L.), boosted, this time around, by such metal luminaries as Aaron Turner (Isis, a shitload of other bands/projects/whatchammacallits), Sanford Parker (Buried At Sea, Minsk, produced extraordinaire) and Stavros Giannopoulos (The Atlas Moth, γεια σου, πατρίδα!!!), plus some vocal contributions by Robert Lowe (OM, Lichens), while during its first configuration (circa 2005) the band boasted the contributions of one Malefic (Scott Conner – Xasthur). So, if you think that USBM is not something that’s enough troo, grim, kvlt or nekro for you, I would suggest that you skip the review entirely and go find the sorcerer who’s still up on the goddamn tree, or something.

See, maybe I’m wrong, but while Scandinavian black metal seems to spend a lot of time navelgazing and reliving glories of days past, the Americans are doing a great job updating its sound, imagery, production values and general direction. I won’t suggest that there aren’t still great Norwegian, Swedish or Finnish black metal bands, but I will posit that during the past few years other countries (France, Ukraine, USA) hold high the genre’s plague-infested banners, going to places where no-one thought that black metal could go and making music that, while retaining the genre’s visceral impact, opens unthought-of vistas for experimentation and progression, taking a piss on black metal’s bitch-made “traditions”.

Twilight’s first self-titled record, which came out in 2005, seemed more like a tribute to black metal’s second wave bands and style, down to the lo-fi production values and blast-beaten soundscapes of utter misanthropy and nihilism. This time around, though, things have changed considerably. The band’s core members have already displayed great evolutionary leaps with their respective bands/projects and this evolution clearly shows in the music contained here. Also, the participation of musicians outside the black metal genre (Turner, Parker and Giannopoulos), who took active part during the compositional phase of the record, adds new and exceedingly vicious edges to an already edgy and out-there environment. Put bluntly, this is one hell of a mindfuck of a record.

So, besides the buzzing and crackling of black metal, we got us here extended melodic passages reminiscent of Isis or The Atlas Moth sludgy post-metalisms, excursions into fucked up psychedelia (Blake Judd’s trademark), acoustic horror-show tactics (which remind me of Lurker Of Chalice’s more strung-out atmospheric moments), to complement the basic epic songwriting scope set by the band. Throughout the eight longish songs (ranging from five to almost ten minutes), the band displays an impressive array of stylistic devices (great exploration of song dynamics, tempo and time-signature changes that make sense and help develop the songs, soaring melodies, subtle use of electronics and keyboards, inventive guitar playing –hey, fuckers, is this a slide I hear towards the end of “8.000 Years”?-, to name just a few…) that make this a thoroughly compelling listen.

The most impressive element of the record is, in my opinion, Wrest’s drumming. The guy is a virtual wizard behind the kit, whether propelling the songs forward, adding graceful touches or blasting away in a most controlled, brutal and effective way. Wrest always said that drums is his instrument of preference and here he fully displays why. Also, Imperial’s vocals are so fucking commanding and visceral, that he puts to shame the majority of black metal vocalists with his performance here. But, y’know, it’s pretty stupid of me to try and find who’s better on what: this is a record that, performance-wise, is almost impeccable, while the band’s experimentation (as in the morbid, pulsing death-march of “Red Fields”) allows everyone to shine and put his stamp on a record that is so fucking bigger than the preconceived genre limitations, that it might be construed –in time- as the birthplace of something new and exciting in the world of metal.

Even when the band moves within known black metal parameters, as in “Convulsions In Wells Of Fever” or “Decaying Observer”, it does so in such a majestic and commanding way, that there are but a handful of bands out there that could be compared with Twilight, in terms of power, vitriol, face-ripping intensity and, well, domination. All in all, the music contained here is simply impressive. So, is everything peachy? No. The production, for reasons that I really cannot explain, is so fucking dense and oversaturated that there are times when everything blurs into almost unintelligibility. I really don’t know whose idea this was, but it really steals from a record that’s painstakingly created, with lots and lots of details of instrumentation and orchestration. So, no, guys, not good, production-wise. Pity that Sanford is responsible for it.

Anyway, bottom line is that if you like intelligent, creative and powerful music, that, while informed by black metal, easily breaks the barriers of said genre and moves towards uncharted territory, without ever losing its new-asshole-ripping power, Twilight is going to be your new and improved beast. If not,… well, the fucking sorcerer’s still up on the fucking tree, now, isn’t he?

Information
Released: 2010
Label: Southern Lord
Website: Twilight MySpace
Band
N. Imperial: vocals
Blake Judd: guitars, vocals
Wrest: drums, bass, guitars
Aaron Turner: guitars, effects, vocals
Stavros Giannopoulos: guitars
Sanford Parker: synthesizers
Robert Lowe: vocals

Tracklist
01. The cryptic ascension
02. Fall behind eternity
03. 8.000 years
04. Red Fields
05. Convulsions in wells of fever
06. Decaying observer
07. The catastrophe exhibition
08. Negative signal omega

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