When one sees a bandname like this one immediately thinks of Swedish Black Metal, maybe with some corpsepaint, so it is somewhat strange to find that these are fairly normal looking guys from New Hampshire. Going to Google Translate I discover that their name means ‘Water is Calling’, so not exactly dark and demonic after all. It is far more exciting in Swedish, but it does the job in conjuring up a mental image which the music does nothing to destroy. Brett Boland needs to stand up and take a bow, as his production here is exemplary, and actually has as much impact as the music itself, which the label describes as “atmospheric black metal devotion, filtered through the members’ own hardcore pasts and imbued with doom metal’s heart-rending heaviness.” So there you have it.
And I have to say that I agree with the above comments; it is a very good and apt description, I just wish that the music itself was better. I firmly believe that if the production wasn’t so incredibly strong and powerful, then this album would be half of what it ended up as. Although every element is good in its’ own right, this is let down by the quality of the songs. There are times when there is just too much repetition and they are allowed to drag on for too long so that the impact is negated and the effect is lost. That is a real shame as there are times when this is top quality, when everything comes together perfectly, but there are too many times when I wonder what I should listen to next.
So, a debut with some promise, but we will have to see if they can come up with something more definitive next time.
www.centurymedia.de
