At Dusk - At Dusk / Idolater - Black Sexual Blasphemy (Split)

More United States black metal emerges from the stomach of Santa Rosa, California in the form of At Dusk and Idolater, two one-man projects that share a split CD and offer a glimpse into their respective worlds of musical dim.

At Dusk:
At Dusk issues its first effort in a self-titled jaunt through blackness and forlornness within the span of six tracks. Despite the much undervalued production some of the intended aura seeps out in the form of interesting atmospheric landscapes painted with sound, albeit very muddy sounds.

The Burzum worship seems evident in both tone and arrangement; the vocals, however, are a buried blip through the recording, which I understand might be intended for added ‘kvlt’ value, but for my taste I’d much rather hear a concise and enunciated course of detriment. I certainly don’t think there’s a whole lot that might otherwise give bands like Xasthur or Leviathan a complex, but the occasional flurry of brilliance in something like “End of Being” is always engaging. This track sounds as haunting and all-consuming as a walk through a tree-laced walkway at nightfall with a low-hanging mist over the exit just past the small shade of lamp light at the far end. For me, it’s all about atmosphere and this track pulled that one out nicely.

The remaining tracks are truly nature-worshipping metal, particularly “The Profaned Temple” which often comes across like a summer evening windstorm through a screen door, and this is mainly due in large part to the sublevel production. In most cases I might otherwise despise such lackadaisical meandering through a recording process, but in some rare cases the music is such that an intentionally suspect production may be useful or even necessary. This might be one of those cases because as bad as the recording is at times it can delve into areas that might otherwise lay contrived and over-indulged. In essence, less might be more for this recording, though I still hasten to give it added points for originality and overall style since its simply not there just yet. I certainly wouldn’t rule out hearing more in the future to see just where the muse takes main-man Korihor and his naturalistic viewpoints.    2.5  


Idolater:
On the other end of the black metal split we have Idolater, which is leaps and bounds over At Dusk in production and in overall effort. In two tracks I find a much stronger effort in The Idolater’s self-made EP than a lot of what I’ve heard in recent weeks; it has some of the more distinct nuances associated with the black metal movement and while it too suffers from not being exactly original, what possibly is nowadays? All we can do at this point is look for entertaining and interesting music with which to draw conclusions, not comparisons.

As a guy who once wrote lyrics for his own band, this aspect is always very important to me. When I learned to play instruments I then concerned myself with the musical aspects of the art, but lyrics are still of vital resonance for me. Lyrically Black Sexual Blasphemy is quite extreme, imbued with every known literary evil device a six-minute scenario can portray. That said, the vocals are discernable and fitting, if especially typical and even wearily expected. This doesn’t destroy the overall aura surrounding the songs; it is one of foreboding and malevolence, even if “The Passion in My Heart” gets the feeling of a run-on sentence at its zenith. It’s almost as if its chaotic discord is a well-crafted instrument of brilliance that is either wholly intuitive or casually accidental. Whatever the case may be, the EP does fine without major expectations.

Overall, not bad for one guy creating all this hellish fury from the dank and depressive shadows of Santa Rosa, California.    3

Release Date: 2010
Label: Band Self Released

TRACK LISTING

At Dusk
  1.  Invocation of Ancient Power
  2.  Colder Than the Merciless Snow
  3.  End of Being
  4.  My Flesh, A Pittance
  5.  The Profaned Temple
  6.  Forsaken, Betrayed
Idolator
  7.  Lux Et Luxuria
  8.  The Passion In My Heart

Total playing time:  45:12

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*Comments:

Reviewer: Chris

March 24, 2011

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At Dusk

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