Today’s review is of Australian former Black Metal band Striborg’s album “Ghostwoodlands”, celebrating its recent rerelease.
This album is an offering of raw and cathartic Black Metal with atmospheric elements that mesmerise through distorted riffs of malice. Between the long and monotonous, almost obsessive, songs there are some Dark Ambient interludes that add a lot of ghostly darkness to the full-length, also hinting the band’s upcoming schism from Metal into electronic territories.
Most melodies are almost completely concealed behind the wall of fuzz, but this wall has been crafted in a certain way that only makes them more interesting and despairing. Although there are a few songs of more than 10 minutes, the whole release seems pretty dynamic and it never really gets boring. This sonic journey through slow and almost intangible sonorities grasps the ghastly essence of the genre in an ideal way. My personal highlights are the title track and “Wandering”.
I recommend this album to fans of Raw Black Metal and Atmospheric Black Metal. My rating is of 9/10.
VARG THE MIGHTY
