Dead Dog's Howl - Black Circle Transcendency

DEAD DOG'S HOWL - Black Circle Transcendency (FALLEN TEMPLE - CD 2021)

As far as I noticed, Dead Dog's Howl debut EP "Mausoleum of Confessed Thoughts" was getting very different and extreme reactions - it was one of those "love it or hate it" type of releases, opinions were never in between. Some people called it a useless noise, lame shit for the most part. Some other were seeing it as a manifestation of true black metal cult and feeling - whatever that means. Me? I was on the side of adversaries of the debut. I simply considered it as a joke.  

And now a second CD comes in, and Fallen Temple decided to send it to me, despite my negative opinion on the debut. Well, they clearly don't know what they're doing haha, but I was finally ready to take this challenge. And so "Black Circle Transcendency" entered. Has anything changed since "Mausoleum of Confessed Thoughts"? Can I finally say something positive about Dead Dog? Well, I can say that this is a better effort for sure, it didn’t push me away immediately. It is still very primitive music; it is also not your typical black metal.  

Hmm, but Dead Dog's Howl music is quite specific and you need to adapt to it first, before giving it a final verdict. It is sort of like old Necromantia, with the riffage played on bass guitar only. What can quickly give you a feeling of something equally archaic, primitive as well as atmospheric. Definitely the music can create that morbid and obscure aura. And that is probably the best aspect of this album. Because its musical attributes are rather very few. I can’t say that this album has much to offer to me. Somehow, I cannot dig it properly, I just prefer normal riffs, harsh guitar tone and ferocity more. Of course, I love old Necromantia, who don’t? But what they did in the early 90’s was something exceptional and insanely brave and they still had killer riffs, arrangements, all sort of amazing stuff was going on there (orchestrations, etc). While "Black Circle Transcendency" sounds mostly poor and miserable, there isn’t much interesting stuff going on, ideas are very basic, the whole performance is forgettable... So, even if this album can stand out as something different among the whole black metal scene, I cannot say I like it much. 

"Black Circle Transcendency" isn’t terrible, I feel like it definitely is better than the debut and, in many ways, Dead Dog’s Howl did manage to compose dark, eerie soundtrack, which can work quite well in some specific conditions. I am not going to be such a radical antagonist this time, I can see where is it all going. But I am still far from screaming in excitement after listening to this CD and I doubt I will be coming back to it too soon. Not terrible, that should be enough compliment from me this time. 

Verdict: 55/100