Yeri Theuns has great admiration for classical music. The way he incorporates piano and orchestral arrangements with black metal is something which deserves more appreciation. His latest offering We, The Damned perfectly follows the promising 2010’s The Great Loss and EP Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes. Despite all the classical arrangements, We, The Damned is an atmospheric black metal record to the core. The kind of maturity that is being displayed in We, The Damned did not come in one day. Any musician’s life is always going to be full of trial and error. The one who can minimalize the error will certainly come out as victorious. Although Yeri Theuns earlier works consisted of piano mainly but soon evolved into atmospheric black metal. No doubt it’s the right direction which Yeri chose given his love for the genre to go with the kind of great musical talent as well. Check out the full review, stream the entire album or download from the Bandcamp Page after the jump!
Once the record starts unfolding, you can embrace the true beauty hidden underneath. The opening track Traces starts with a bit of percussion which immediately hooks the listeners. Soon the fury of riffs with abhorrent vocals shatter everything above and beneath. You can get the essence of what’s in store. The slow passage around the six- minute mark shows the diversion of Yeri’s vocal technique where he unleashes growls followed by a captivating solo in latter part performed by Freek which ends this eleven- minute opener with memorable thoughts. The next track Path Of Sorrows is basically an instrumental comprised of very gloomy and at the same time catchy piano work which leads to bleak Renouncing The World. It shows that even with distorted vocals, it’s possible to scratch the inner depth of emotions. The title track We, The Damned transverse in between slow and mid- paced melodic passages to fast- paced intermissions. The dark and melancholic aura shining on each note will make you feel more miserable than before. It will hurl you into the most aphotic breach. The tremolo picked riffing, noteworthy leads to go along with blistering drumming and synthesis make this fifteen minutes long track very memorable and something that will surely leave a mark on your mind.
We, The Damned is not your average atmospheric black metal album. Even the innovators of the genre would have been proud to accomplish such a record, it’s that good. I can’t say it’s a genre defining work or not as it’s going to be too big of a statement then but surely the epicness of this album attributes a significant work in the history of the genre not only with the music but also the sorrow, nature and grief ridden lyrical contents which you can read for hours and mesmerized by each of the words. You can download the album for free from the bandcamp page (+ all the lyrics provided with it) or you can listen to it below. Also don’t forget to check the previous efforts which are also available there.
P.S. Special thanks to Sean and Meghan for helming me into CVLT Nation’s arena!
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