Self

Another day passes, and another post-black album is released. It seems like post-black is the most popular bandwagon to hop on these days, and only a few manage to stay on the bandwagon and not fall from it into the realms of forgetfulness. Terzij de Horde, with their album Self, managed to secure a pretty comfy spot in the most memorable post-black albums of 2015, and despite their chances to fall into oblivion like most of their counterparts, this album is a pretty triumphant release.

You could definitely hear the post hardcore influences in this album. If some tracks were to be stripped of their metal parts, they would've surely fitted well inside a The Saddest Landscape or an Orchid album. As with most post-black albums, there is a very distinctive emphasis on the atmosphere, which plays a crucial part in albums like these. The band has mastered that art with this release, and provide a very unsettling atmosphere which borders on depressive and even creepy at times. This is made by an endless wall of sound that is mostly fueled by the post hardcore-influenced tremolo riffs, dissonnant "calmer" sections that show the music at its most disturbing, and painful mid ranged black metal shrieking.

A very noticable thing among post black metal bands is the formulaic song structure which consists of endless switched between blastfests and post-something sections. Sadly, that curse has stricken this album as well- but despite the songs predictableness in terms of structure and content, the intensity, atmosphere and the artsy influences (both lyrically and content-wise) that surround the album don't make it that boring as expected.

Overall, this album isn't that special, but it is good for what it is and for what is stands for. The mixture of the production, content, and lyrics make it a semi-stock post black album- but the album does its job and it does it pretty well. Recommended for fans of Krallice, early Liturgy, Altar of Plagues, and Deafheaven.