Blood of the Black Owl – S/T
Love it. Love it so much I’m wearing the T-shirt. I only wish that my reviewers copy came with the three-song demo. But then, Blood of the Black Owl’s debut is a full 70-minute crushfest, so I can’t really complain. As if Chet Scott’s output as Ruhr Hunter weren’t impressive enough, the debut disc of Blood of the Black Owl places him in the top tier of one-man projects. In two genres full of boys with effects pedals and tortured vocals, Scott reminds metal and noise fans not to settle for the typical masturbatory fare we’ve been so inundated with. Slow buzzing riffs combine with rumbling atmosphere to create a transcendent piece that can be neither described as black or doom. Elements of both are present, complementing each other. The crushing despair of doom and the bleakness of black metal birth an audial black hole. Void metal, perhaps? But then, nomenclature is beside the point here. What matters is that every track can stand alone as an abyssic opus, yet the cohesion of the seven tracks is unmistakable. Bindrune Recordings is by no means a prolific label, but each release is so singularly stellar that one can be sure that if Marty signed ’em, it’s essential listening. – Christine Lett
BINDRUNE RECORDINGS
Worm Gear 