Origins

When the first song on a relatively melodic black metal split release is named ‘Cascadia’, the betting man in me wants to say where it’s going. Unsurprisingly, Ah Ciliz hail from Washington state, although manage to make their band name sound like an Italian exclamation despite the members being called Elmer and Boris. Chiral, confusingly, is an Italian solo project, but fits in very well with the themes of Origins by titling both songs here after personified natural phenomena. If you know what Cascadian black metal is, this split proves a high quality example; if not, read on a bit further.

Essentially, the major adjustment to Nordic black metal when the North American movement got hold of it was to change “nature hates you” into “you love nature”, hence why Ah Ciliz make their instrumental track ‘Moonlight in Night Season’ so incredibly peaceful and folky, not to mention introducing soothing outdoor sounds into the mix. Synths smooth the way for clean guitar strumming here, mostly replaced by shimmering melodies on the heavier songs, as movements elevate in emotional intensity towards epic near-Dissection spectacles. At the end of the Ah Ciliz side, lead guitar plays a more specific role in ‘People of the Stars’, even allowing for some solos, which turn up also on Chiral’s songs, not to mention rather fun keyboards near the tail of the instrumental ‘A Feeble Glare of Autumn’. That aside, sounds like something Drudkh would have recorded, no? I mean, it’s a 4 minute intro if you want to consider it that, and probably would look more substantial were it not next to the 15 minute ‘Queen of the Setting Sun’. This piece evolves at a frantic pace, sometimes stumbling through transitions rather, giving me the strong sense of going on an exciting wilderness adventure without a map or any supplies.

One little thing that bothers me relates to the vocals, since this split consists of undeniably well-produced melodic black metal yet the scratchy harsh vocals hint at a dissonance that really isn’t there. That’s more of a complaint about Chiral, since he’s groaning and wailing out the vocals like a true constipated ghoul, that despite the very pleasant momentum of his burbling backing. Admittedly, the longer cut turns more sinister on a few occasions, with a couple of doomy touches and a murky guitar tone, though it still isn’t that heavy. Honestly, heaviness didn’t come into my analysis of Origins until I started to consider how fitting all the choices were, and this pretty sunny, romantic take on black metal benefits from its lightness in many ways, such as feeling fresher, more energetic, and obviously more melodic than its old-school counterpart. Chiral perhaps tried to pack too much content into one song, even if it proves a nice linear experience, while Ah Ciliz should appeal to those keen on Lustre’s recent style. A good matchup and a good result.