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AS LIGHT DIES
The Love Album: Volume I

Maa Productions (2014)
Rating: 8/10

The Love Album: Volume I is the third outing from Spanish avant-garde metallers As Light Dies, following on from Ars Subtilior From Within The Cage (2010).

And so, after its spooky, surreal introduction, As Light Dies comes to life with a rather unexpected brand of what I can only describe as “death rock”; a strange brew of melodic black metal, Goth rock and haunting metal.

I guess I expected these guys to be a lot weirder; although there are many shades within the realms of this opus, it is still very much a black metal composition. Nevertheless, it is one which dabbles with jarring textures, orchestral sub-divisions and technical prowess which are apparent from the opening ‘Orpheus Mourning’, where the vocals of Nightmarer adopt a sort of Gothic gruff drool which then transform into almost operatic, and very much theatrical croons of despair. The track is reasonably heavy, bringing with it some impressive guitar work from Nightmarer whose darkly clad structures slot well alongside the unpredictable percussive escapades of Pablo Parejo. Hidden within this pitch black majesty are the violin whines of Jesús Villalba, the intriguing bass lines of José F. Yuste and non-intrusive keyboard strains of Daniel Maqueda.

I have to admit that I played ‘Orpheus Mourning’ several times before moving on through the album, and found that it really grew on me but worked better with the growled rather than clear vocals. With those decipherable croons, As Light Dies becomes more of a majestic and darkly epic metal band, but it’s a posse worth dissecting and analysing – even if one can never feel comfortable with the varying layers and neo-Gothic meandering.

With ‘Blow Of Loss’ there’s further dark atmospherics from the echoes of sorrow and peculiar clanging surrealism as we’re taken deep into the underbelly of the opus with ‘Together As One’, which has a chaotic violin worming its way through the battering ram of percussion and those guttural growls. It’s certainly a cauldron of inventive black metal that for the most part succeeds in its experimentation, although I’m often left cold by those clearer vocal expressions but yet I can understand why they need to exist here. Of course, none of the ten tracks on offer can be accused of mediocrity.

‘When Distance Becomes Real’ is another moody sound effect and eerie dialogue and nothing more, but each narrative segment seems to lead us into another realm of black metal weirdness where the likes of ‘Your Wake’ and ‘Nemesis’ co-exist as mournful ballads of strange theatre – the latter of these being a truly monstrous juggernaut marrying black metal nastiness with the sort of cacophony one may expect from Mike Patton (Faith No More, Tomahawk, Mr. Bungle). For this track alone I have to bump the grade for this album up a notch, because it’s a truly nerve-shredding experience that deserves your attention, even if only to appreciate the scary madness of this grim carnival of confusion.

I only wish that As Light Dies would offer more of this sort of perplexing weirdness and, dare I say it, stray from the black metal regime and possibly explore doomier crafts entwined with true avant-garde juxtapositions.

‘Farewell From Distant Shores’ wraps the album up; again offering an almost theatrical Goth vocal soar over a rampant drum, but as soon as those evil burps enter the theatre I’m sold once again, yet nevertheless left wishing for more of this almost industrialised blackness.

As Light Dies is certainly a band worth checking out if you like strange deviation.

Neil Arnold

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