Hills of Sefiroth – Fly High the Hated Black Flag
Completely ugly and abusive 1 man black metal. The guitar lines are polluted and non conventional, teetering on the brink of unskilled abandon or creative genius? The trick is trying to decide which shoe fits sole musical molester, Justin in his abrasive source of expression, Hills of Sefiroth. The drums mostly strike me as a non issue… they are there in the mix and keep time, but the guitar riffs almost seem improvised as they wander in and out of time as if lost upon a winding path into a schizophrenics deepest fever dream. The added distraction is the sharp, treble dominant guitar tone focusing on higher register riff ideas that really grate on your senses. I found tracks like “Torment Under Rust and Ruin” to be completely maddening as the guitars fall out of synch with the drums and back in the exact same way as the riff repeats, telling me this oddball style of creating black metal was indeed Justin’s complete intention. The outcome is beyond perplexing and aggravating to the senses, making this album a very destructive listening experience. I became intrigued as I found myself wanting to keep listening to see what happens next, yet my thoughts and musical soul was screaming for something less ominous and less eager to drag my mind across the coals. As I withstood the waves of caustic sonic impurity, when a “normal” riff would come into the picture, or even a brief acoustic interlude where the rhythm section and guitars would synch up, a wave of gratefulness would sweep over me before being deceived once again by septic black metal screams and torturous guitar lines that act like rusty knives jabbed beneath my finger nails. That’s it! Hills of Sefiroth actually got it right and created pure, cleanly produced black metal torture. Many brag about this sort of thing, yet fall short, but Justin nailed it all on “Fly High the Hated Black Flag”, from moments of powerful atmosphere, to full on, mind breaking musical torment. Not for the casual BM listener. – Marty
WRAITH PRODUCTIONS
Worm Gear 