Hostilities resume at Veilburner.
Like its predecessors, this ninth album titled All That Glimmers is Gloam and featuring Mephisto Deleterio (instruments) and Chrisom Infernium (vocals, Torture Ascendancy 1307, ex-Humanity Decayed, ex-Pyrrhic Salvation) is released by Transcending Obscurity Records.
We’re greeted by the eerie sounds of Here is Thine Sabbath, So Mote it Chasm, the opening track, which begins with a brief introduction before unleashing its dark and chaotic veil filled with heaviness, dissonance, and those mystical yet imposing, and at times even terrifying, vocal parts. It’s easy to feel oppressed while listening to the track, even as the harmonics offer softer tones just as on Oblivion is Yours to Labyrinth, where they hypnotize us as they wind their way through a rhythm section that’s just as dense, punctuated by menacing vocal outbursts. The band even offers a more energetic, jerky approach, before eventually handing the reins over to the equally strange and unpredictable Vitriolic Hiss, which makes heavy use of dissonance and piercing leads while the vocalist spews his blasphemous, suffocating lyrics through a barrage of effects. I do, however, note a certain technical prowess in the instrumental and the solo, then find myself once again swept up by the darkness on Phænomena Obscura, which begins with cries of distress and then descends upon us like a veritable block of darkness moving in waves, some of which grant us slightly more respite than others. The duo gives us another moment to catch our breath with Dis’ Obedient Woe, a track that – though unsettling and mysterious – remains very calm and unfolds slowly thanks to cosmic keyboards, but the storm gradually picks up again on Of Godslave and Blood Mortar, which also summons the most harrowing growls as the riffs build at their own pace. The incantations energize the rhythm section, which eventually explodes before giving way to the strange A Séance to Spectre and its mystical tones, which are galvanized by the vocals only to trample us at times afterward, returning to that unusual tranquility bordering on atmospheric black metal. Back to aggression with Golgothic Holocaust, which takes blast beats and raw elements to heart, but also features more experimental elements that are once again evident in the vocals, while the rhythm section is rock-solid; however, the sound eventually cuts out to make way for All That Glimmers is Gloam, the eponymous title track and final composition of the album, to immerse us in its majestic sounds – a track that remains relatively calm yet deeply occult right up until the very end too.
Where some seek technicality for the sake of brutality, Veilburner puts it at the service of occult, sinister, and dissonant sounds. I find myself repeating this from album to album, but All That Glimmers is Gloam is still not for beginners, and its richness requires multiple listens to fully grasp it.
80/100
