Wanderings

I Shalt Become is a one-man black metal band formed by S. Holliman hailing from the United States of America. Usually I am not one for American black metal, but this band is an exception. I Shalt Become’s Wanderings is reminiscient of Burzum and Judas Iscariot (another American black metal band). In fact, the bonus album includes a couple of Judas Iscariot covers.

From the start, this album is pure, raw, and misanthropic black metal. The second track, “Fragments” makes me want to prowl through a wintry forest. Repetitive riffs, harsh/shrieking vocals, and the poor sound quality all contribute to form a soupy realm of another world. Most songs, with the exception of Labyrinthine and the bonus tracks are very slow and repetitive, but Holliman manages to keep the songs interesting and refreshing. This can mainly be attributed to the fact that the songs are relatively short, something that is a relative rarity in black metal.

Oftentimes in a black metal album, the vocals become overwhelming and serve simply to detract from the overall mood of the song. Not so with Wanderings. The vocals come at exactly the right intervals to keep the songs flowing. They also serve only to increase the sense of depression and misanthropy that defines this album.

By far the greatest highlight of this album would be the song “The Funeral Rain.” The riff in the beginning of the song honestly blew my mind. The song keeps getting grimer and grimer as it progresses. Holliman’s vocals are a mix of ghostly murmurings and shrieking howls that make the listener feel as though he had landed in the dark, ice covered forests of Norway. While the drumming and the guitar playing are not anything phenomenal, they combine to create an atmosphere that could not get any better.

To any who enjoy depressive NSBM, I strongly recommend this album.