Shards of Silver Fade

Atmospheric black metal has emerged at an exponential rate in the black metal scene, populated by multitudes of bands attempting to create quality black metal music permeated with atmospheres evoking the desolate emptiness of space, or the unforgiving blankness of winter. Through doing so, many bands have fallen hopelessly into merely cloning historically renowned contributors to the genre, such as Burzum, or, more recently, Wolves in the Throne Room. Nonetheless, some individual bands differentiate themselves from the saturation of this sub-genre, and offer something truly innovative and beautiful in their work, such as Coldworld, the various works of Wrest, and most notably, Midnight Odyssey.

Dis Pater, sole member of Midnight Odyssey, has placed himself at the frontier in terms of quality atmospheric black metal, with his eclectic blend of ambience and original black metal music. Many contemporary bands place considerable emphasis on establishing an atmosphere, that through doing so, the overall quality and direction of the music remains typical and unmemorable. Unlike the majority, Midnight Odyssey masters both the atmospheric and black metal elements, combining both to form a truly astounding work, approximately two and a half hours in duration.

In terms of the atmosphere evoked, and as evinced by the cover, Midnight Odyssey focuses on themes of the desolation of space, yet more vibrant than the savage droning of the atmospheres evoked by Darkspace. Comparatively, Mare Cognitum's atmosphere is most similar to Midnight Odyssey, in exploring the vastness of space in both a wondrous, yet remorseless light.

'Shards of Silver Fade' features longer song durations than his previous release 'Funerals from the Astral Sphere', and through doing so, enables for the song to grow and mature in the mind of the listener, with each song possessing its own distinct identity. Notably, this album also features the proliferation of Dis Pater's clean vocals, which, in the majority of cases, such as on 'Hunter of the Celestial Sea', create a masterpiece of a song; on others, such as 'Son of Phoebus', dragging on too long when Dis Pater's Varg-esque screeched vocals could serve greater purposes with their inclusion.

A feature of Midnight Odyssey's music is the ability to venture into truly melodic passages without compromising the sophistication of the music, and this is truly abound on tracks such as 'From A Frozen Wasteland' and 'Hunter of the Celestial Sea', whereby the chord progressions are hypnotic whilst also being congruent with the rigidity of the black metal itself. It is the sentiment imbued throughout the music, such as on 'Starlight Oblivion', that deviates from the tendency for most atmospheric projects to only focus on the terror of space, as opposed to its beauty.

Moreover, Dis Pater's intricate planning on the direction of each song never fails to become apparent through the progression of the song, aligning with what he originally desired - to create a listening experience not dissimilar from a soundtrack, as opposed to impulsive songs that shallowly satisfy the listener.

Essentially, 'Shards of Silver Fade' picks up from where it left off on 'Funerals from the Astral Sphere', featuring a slight difference in style from the previous album, yet miraculous in its effect. Dis Pater's thorough exploration and effort put into the songs included on this album combine to make a supreme listening experience, and has set it up to be undisputedly the best black metal album released in 2015 so far.

Favorite tracks: 'From A Frozen Wasteland', 'Hunter of the Celestial Sea', 'Starlight Oblivion'.