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AD INFINITUM
Woven Within

Self-released (2014)
Rating: 5/10

Considering that there are a number of bands adopting this moniker, Ad Infinitum – who hail from Kentucky in the United States – are not the most original. Ad Infinitum is the work of one person – the mysterious J.G.S. – and like so many other atmospheric black metal bands, opts for vast landscapes of sound and remote vocals, which are hidden beneath the wall of sound.

However, while many bands of this ilk do tend to become rather rainy and at times a tad tepid, there is a touch more oomph with the expression of J.G.S. He chooses to add a weightier guitar and drum sound, the result being a more hellish atmosphere and something meatier to get the teeth into.

Vocally, the squawks and rasps are too indistinctive in the mix to have any real effect; in fact, they act as mere gassy exhalations rather than actual vocals. Anyway though, with the exception of the relatively short instrumental ‘Aestuum’, the album boasts seven reasonably lengthy songs.

Woven Within opens with the lumbering ‘Heliacal Rising’, which is half-decent as far as the guitars and drums go, although the track – which clocks in at over eight minutes – does begin to bore halfway in when we realise that there’s going to be very little variation from the plod.

‘Inward Threshold’ also runs for close to nine minutes, but this is more standard icy black metal fare with the raging guitars and speedy drums. However, the vocals seem utterly pointless, as they kind of hover in the distance without any real effect on the ears. Soon lumbering back to a steady, hypnotic pace, the track again lacks variation between the two styles until an injection of cosmic vapour seems to glide into the room. From here on, the track takes on an intriguing twist of imposing rumbles and stormy hiss before resorting back to type.

The 12-minute ‘Ethereal’ is once again abrasive black metal remoteness with gothic orchestration running through its grey veins, and ‘Observer’ tends to numb the brain as a rather laborious wheeze. I’m all for these types of artists and their grey expression, but believe me, if you’re going to make an album of lengthy songs, you need to engross the listener with varying content rather than bore them to death.

I’m sure many bands of this ilk think they are creating wondrous soundscapes to reflect the contents of their mind, but as each track reveals itself there’s not a whole lot going on between those detached vocal gasps and continuous motions of emotionless guitars, and blank percussion.

There does come a hint of relief with the shorter six-minute title track – a racy blast of chilly chords and rapid drums – but by this point I’m finding it hard to separate the tracks from one another and finding myself almost comatose before 12-minute closer ‘Surfacing’ slaps me round the face with a frostbitten hand in order to revive me from the tundra effects. J.G.S. opts for a simple galactic sweep with the track, which is simply presented as some type of cosmic groan and drone, and features a spoken word sample to add to the extraterrestrial nuance.

And then it’s over, another rather tiresome expression from the black metal fringes. Woven Within is an alien concept which may have sounded good within the head of J.G.S., but suffers badly when put to tape. Hardly a visit to the outer limits, and more a case of rather limited.

Neil Arnold

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