كاديمية القمر الكيميائي

Chemical Moon Academy is easily one of the most unexpected things to have come out by a band like Dëgénéréscence, one who is most notable for playing an extremely raw and atmospheric blend of depressive black metal, it's to the point where I thought this wasn't actually Infämies music because of how drastically different it is in comparison.

Musically this release tells you what it is before it even plays, as it dawns a very nostalgic and vaporwave esque aesthetic, something most black metal artists wouldn't dare to even try over the standard "trve kvlt" one. The release is centered heavily around electronic elements usually rather than the black metal ones, with prominent use of sampling from various forms of media and emphasis on the keyboard compositions, similarly to artists like Mirshipal and I Am Nothing whom also have many electronic elements along with keyboard focused compositions. Besides the prevelant electronic elements, the other main element is of course a very psychedelic style of black metal in the veins of artists like Iunehkal or Trhä in terms of composition, authenticity, and synthwork, as the keyboard lines as well as the riffing are at times very reminscent of both artists.

Production wise this release is quite diverse, as the atmosphere for the black metal tracks are heavily chorus laden much like Efil, Ativan, or Uønsket whom also use alot of chorus in their music, although it's also very similar to what The Smashing Pumpkins have done in the way things sound. Furthermore on the topic of production values, the more electronic based tracks are extremely spaced out and psychedelic with hypnagogic atmospheres much like the more ambient based tracks from Iunehkals music, albeit way more eccentric than they usually are. Besides this the feelings I get from this release sound as if it's fading away from normal black metal traditions, trading in the old for the new and eccentric sound that more people today play, as this new style is not so different from the old one in some ways, still carrying the same emotions and atmospheres of many of the old bands except reinventing themselves into something much more than whats constantly regurgitated today.

I reccomend this release to people who want something different in black metal, but also something thats still just as good other less eccentric bands today, alternatively I also reccomend this to anybody who enjoys music from bands like Iunehkal, Efil, Ativan, Mirshipal, I Am Nothing, Trhä, Vukovar, Uønsket, Fulgor, Yvyy, and Murmuüre, as they are equally just as creatively similar musically in many ways.