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CROMLECH (Germany) “Of Owls and Eels”
CROMLECH (Germany) “Of Owls and Eels”
By Octopi Mills
Darkness Shall Rise Productions is the label that has released the German version of CROMLECH with the masterfully titled "Of Owls and Eels".
It is said that the fellow responsible for this work is Impurus who started this in 1994, many moons before. "Old Incineration Hymn" serves as the opening of the album, adding an atmospheric element for the intro piece before launching into "Past Forever" and into the black metal of old times not forgotten. "Owls in the Fog" makes use of a simple yet vast songwriting style in the paradox of things such related and already it is known this is not the sterile black metal of contemporary commodity but rather a call to all the elements that made the older style so revered. Misty vocals, medieval feelings and Gothic keys call forth a sense of mastery that evokes woods, old castles in nebular fogs of time.This third track is really done well and must be noted as such.
"Ice Curse" simplifies the structure of the music, like old world European architecture and throughout the night the use of the synth is done with taste and craft. The guitars in the album are at times spidery, crawling with whatever they can with tendrils on the stone walls and overall the ancient sound of the middle ages reverberates somehow, darkly. And we have a word that obsesses the author, eels. "Eels Part One" is a great little piece of eerie night music and like a coronation stone of decor on the crown, with a vocal narration that sounds like the good parts of the old game “Ravenloft”. For such a small piece it shines greatly, adorned by great acoustic guitars and the mastery of this talented musician and curator of atmospheric things that sound like audial paintings...liquid nocturnes. Strangely there is no "Eels part 2", unless I've missed something. I will have to find the lyrics for this release. "
“The Quiet Witness" moves cinematically like an old roll of fog down a courtyard. "Mordlust" comes in like an old rusty sword than sharpens itself and inflicts cursed wounds that never heal. Raging and stormy, it starts out like a lot of black metal from the past, making it a little more normal than the other songs. This album will inevitably be on a top ten list at the end of the year and will be one to remember for the author to return to. In a batlike swarm Impurus makes music that sounds as such whilst others waste time these days.
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