Islands in Cosmic Darkness

A thick undulant of Southern European black metal greets the ear on the debut album from Italy's Thysia. All is warm, organic, cloying. Intensity is not lacking, but ‘Islands of Cosmic Darkness’ follows the loose mysticism of early Mortuary Drape in its quest to craft dank, dark atmospheres that supervene on a relatively direct rockist set up of guitars and drums, with little in the way of additional atmospheric flourishes to aid in building the picture.

The production adopts an old school organicism by which to frame this scenery. The guitar tone is soft, exhibiting a depth and murkiness that nevertheless leaves room to articulate razor sharp melodic leads and hints of jagged abrasion. Soft, understated drums circle the riffs with punches of mid-paced blast-beats or else choppy but basic fills that hearken back to early Samael in their chasmic presentation. Ghoulish mid-range vocals complete the picture, adding an undertone of calculated monstrosity common to occultist metal.

Ontologically, the package is about as basic as they come. But the riffs transcend their simplicity, offering imaginative yet transparent evolutions of melodic development. This pivots on traditionally orientated minor key themes, supplemented by shadows of dissonance to unsettle the otherwise linear flow of the riffs. They swirl, collapse, and reform in ponderous and elegant patterns from which subtle macro structures begin to manifest. Moments of dramatic import are often signalled by a drop in tempo, a lapse into the droning momentum of doom metal to signal that the activity has reached its apex and limitation, finitude is all that can await the cumulation of information.

‘Islands of Cosmic Darkness’ is a subtle and studied work of warm black metal. It eschews the theatrics of the Greek (Medieval Demon, latter day Varathron, Caedes Cruenta) in favour of an understated but no less atmospheric exploration of dark, occultist metal. Its charms may not be as forthcoming as some of the big hitters in this field, but the interaction of creative riffing with playful drum work brings to life a pocket of sleepy, dreamlike black metal with unique rewards to offer amongst the current crop of contemporaries.

Originally published at Hate Meditations