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Band: Cosmis Burial
Album title: ...To The Past
Release date: 30 September 2021
Label: Purity Through Fire
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Tracklist:
01. Alpha Centauri A
02. Alpha Bootis
03. Alpha Carinae
04. Alpha Canis Majoris
The »one-man-band« phenomenon seems to be growing bigger and bigger, especially when it comes to atmospheric black metal and Cosmic Burial is no exception here. The project is run by V.V., who is also the main figure behind the atmospheric black metal project Nachtig and black metal duo Varlosta Varjoon. While Nachtig's essence revolves heavily around themes of melancholy, darkness, misanthropy and overall hatred, the other side of V.V. - Cosmic Burial - ascends to much more celestial and unworldly spheres on a very personal level.
...To The Past is Cosmic Burial sophomore full-length release, following 2020's debut Impakt. While on Impakt the songs' titles were given names by asteroids, ...To The Past entitles songs after stars and continues in the vein of cosmic themes and sounds. And what these four entirely instrumental tracks, which fold into a 45-minute lasting album, bring to the table is a collision of stellar and airly melodies with more hefty and murky tunes. The sound on the album is very classical and representative of what atmospheric black metal in its essence is. It is quite simplistic, as it relies heavily on synth structures, which carry out most of the album's melodies, intertwining ith occasional passing of very distinctive black metal tremolo guitars. The opening "Alpha Centauri A" leaves a very nice first impression; while very minimalistic in its composition, it displays nice friction between the album's ethereal and aggressive sides. The following "Alpha Bootis" is much more blackgaze oriented - its cohesive and massive dreamy sounds had me feeling Alcest's Shelter era through all ten minutes of it. In contrast, the album takes a twist with "Alpha Carinae", which opens with a very raw black metal opening and shortly takes a sudden dynamic twist and transforms into a heavily ambient tune, again relying mostly on synthesizer-driven melodies and soundwaves and in that vein it also closes with its fourth and last track "Alpha Canis Majoris".
There may not be much going on musically in ...To The Past and it even might sound a bit drudging the first time giving it a spin - especially if you're craving for something a bit more majestic - because it is very much focused on creating a particular gossamer ambient and not much attention is spent on splendour compositions. But all in all, the passages are done very precisely, the tempo changes are running smooth and the album overall delivers a notion. All the little details, however minimalistic, play their part in creating a concept of this sonic odyssey. The album has its depth and dynamics and it will surely be to a liking to anyone, who loves the ambient atmospheric black metal, the calmness of blackgaze with an occasional nostalgic touch of pure black metal. However, I do feel there is much room for enhancing the sound and inserting a bit of those breath-taking moments, one can achieve within this genre, which is what I mostly missed on this album.
The review was written by Ines
Rating: 7/10
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