Gyre of Incandescents - s/t

GYRE OF INCANDESCENTS - s/f (WOLFSPELL Records CD 2018)

My first reaction and comment, after hearing first few minutes of "Gyre of Incandescents", was noticing the poor and very, very lo-fi production of this album. It literally sounds like you were listening to an album played from another room and through the walls. Or you had all the speakers placed in the boxes, so the sound was quite muffled. My second reaction was "fuck, these female vocals suck a lot". I truly do not like all singing parts from this chick, who calls herself Mia Raven and I would really delete them if I only could. Her voice is absolutely rubbish and why on earth did anyone think it would sound cool to include them on a harsh, simplistic black metal? No idea, but Gyre of Incandescents – please reconsider this and maybe do not use them again.  

OK then. It was pretty tough start for me, luckily though after a while I got used to the production of "Gyre of Incandescents" and actually managed to find some good music on this album. Gyre of Incandescents plays very atmospheric, melancholic kind of black metal and I have to admit that this project easily creates great dark and cold aura, which is perfect for this type of black metal. There are some great mesmerizing riffs here, some pretty melodic parts ("Source of Strength - Destruction"), so the music is mostly memorable and easy to listen to. But it was interesting to find “Final Hours”, which is utterly vicious and fast song, which release a lot of anger, so emotionally it is quite different to the rest of the album. 

Simplistic song structures are typical, even for such lengthy songs, but that repetitive riffage helps to create a proper feel, which is so damn intriguing in such bands. I can also admit that this buzzy guitar tone fits this music very well, so the album turned out to be a good listening experience. This album has its faults, female vox being the biggest problem, in my opinion. It’s far from being exceptional, but I think I could give it a spin every now and then, if I only feel a mood for such sorrowful, almost depressive black metal.  

Standout track: “Final Hours” 

Verdict: 60/100