Vvltvre

An international project comprised of members from France, Switzerland and Belgium, Ancient Moon is an ambient black metal project that has lurked in the shadows since the ’90s. While not much information is available on the interwebz, a few sources have claimed that that band spent their early years peddling ritualistic ambient music, only recently moving towards the blackened realms. Judging by the dense sound of the band’s debut full length, Vvltvre, it seems completely feasible that this trio has spent time in those desolate reaches of the ambient underground.

Co-released on CD by Satanath Records (Russia), Cold Raw Records (United Kingdom) and Metal Throne Productions (Greece) in April of 2015, Vvltvre features a single, near-thirty minute track titled “Preastigitum Altareas”. Focusing on suffocating atmospheres and swirling dissonance, the track constantly pulses between punishing black metal and unsettling ambiance. The album moves from quiet brooding to dissonant miasmic black metal to jarring, uneasy moments of dark ambient.

The album begins with distant, grainy trem riffing amid a bed of quiet ambient noise. All at once, the guitars come into focus while a cacophonous crash of blasting percussion and howling background noises bring the volume up to a listenable level. The trem riffs continue to fire, strangely melodic alongside the jarring noise, while the drums focus on frenetic double bass rhythms with an array of crashing and clanging cymbals. Anguished screams and droning, bassy notes lie atop the music, bringing another shade of darkness to the murky sound. The grueling din occasionally subsides to allow introspective moments of quietude which are again replaced by the disparaging barrage of dense black metal.

Vvltvre is one of those unsettling listens that rips and tears at your subconsciousness while it’s playing. It’s noxious and punishing, with moments of quietude to ease the suffering. It’s a well constructed effort that seems to hover on the brink of collapsing under its own weight, but never succumbs to such a fate. The instrumentation is purposely choppy and jarring, but it certainly doesn’t make for an easy listen. Regardless of what the band was doing prior to this album, Vvltvre is a solid first step towards the light for this mysterious international act.

Written for The Metal Observer.