Despairs Depths Descended

I haven't kept up much with the Black Twilight Circle bands' output lately so now and then releases like Arizmenda's "Despair Depths Descended" remind me that they're still active and spreading their brand of BM psychedelia inspired / influenced by their Aztec, Mayan and other indigenous Central American heritages to the world. Compared to fellow BTC bands like Blue Hummingbird on the Left and Kuxan Suum, Arizmenda (helmed by Murunbud) is a fairly straightforward black metal band with not quite as much psychedelic input as the others, though that doesn't mean this project is less intense or deranged. From start to finish, "Despair Depths Descended" delivers on what the title implies: it's an overwhelming, suffocating ride into the hellish depths of depression and hopelessness with no escape save suicide in sight. Maybe for some people this recording will be a bit too intense and stupendous and not necessarily for the right reason, but we'll see.

Whatever the band does on each song, gets amped up to the utmost extreme where mood and emotion are concerned. The vocals especially pour out non-stop anguish and torment whether in actual singing, screaming or wailing. I'll accept that for some people this outpouring of excessive emotion can be tiresome and for others it'll be cartoonish and comedic. There's the danger also that the screaming and the pain might not be genuine, that the excess might be forced and exaggerated. When every song is melancholy and unhappiness in excelsis, an album as long as "Despair ..." can start sounding tedious and boring.

The album gets going briskly with"Christening Unborn Deformities", a busy if melancholy track, and piles on the anger, the mix of emotions and the pace with succeeding piece "Taste of Purity". Nearly all songs are long and perhaps they could have done with editing and tightening up - they're all apt to go off the deep end in sorrow and derangement. A turning point seems to come with "Birth" which has an unearthly shrill demonic sound and heightened dramatic feel, complete with maddened groaning voices, in its extended introduction and stands out from the rest of the album in its pain, abandonment and descent into inner hell. The suffocating madness, gabbling vocals and shrill guitars continue through to the end.

If you want excess in epic unhinged BM hellfire, you've come to the right album but I gotta warn it's an exhausting ride and your head will feel so cleaned out that it feels empty and hollow. If it echoes when you tap the side of your head, the album has done its job well. You'd have to be a dedicated fan of the BTC bands to come through an experience like this and not feel drained. Other folks are likely to find this album too over-the-top in its derangement. It might have done better if it had been continuous all the way through with no breaks or very short pauses, and if all the songs had been chapters in one meta-work and narrative.