This release caught my eye the moment I saw it in my inbox. Predatory Light and Vorde are two exciting black metal bands raising a hellstorm of black metal evolution. To say that they do things differently than any second wave worship bands doesn’t do their music justice. They are well on the way to helping black metal survive past lackluster, monotonic second wave tribute albums.
Predatory Light starts things off with a haunting little lead guitar melody. Ritual black metal makes a positive impression when the music is carefully constructed. Meticulously rendered, they move past the first eerie lick and move it through more discordant black metal bliss. The band’s two tracks on this split are mostly slow anthems that breathe defiance for the spirit of tributary efforts. They don’t mix up the tempos much, opting to use the haunting lead and strange, syncopated drumming to good effect. So far, so good. Vorde is up next.
Vorde amps up the weirdness even more as the drum machine they utilize plays socialist rhythms quite like experimental industrial bands like to use. Having said that, their beats are much more minimalist. You won’t bang your head to this. But the music can enchant you, and if you’re worth your collection of underground black metal albums, the music will succeed in doing so.
Vorde’s vocals remind me of Attila Csihar’s iconic take on Mayhem’s “Cursed In Eternity,” off of the De Mysteriis classic. Vorde probably never intended on establishing any comparison to Mayhem though. Their music is avant-garde and experimental. The vocals sound more like chant than rasp or scream. If you’ve ever listened to Vorde and loved their vocals, it is safe to say you’ll like what Vorde does on this split. Sometimes they do go faster, but for short bursts instead of long jams tremolo-riffing end-to-end. Know that both bands push the envelope in weirdness, but neither bands disappoint here. Fans of discordant, experimental black metal will play this on repeat for some time.
Maybe not essential, this split will still find loving abuse on turntables belonging to fans of Icelandic fourth-wave black metal. Check this out if you like what I have to say. Else, black metal purveyors, wait for another review of raw, punishing, straight-away, template-riding, tribute-loving black metal the way second wave bm bands in the present age hope to keep alive. Just as long as it’s CVLT Nation certified!
