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TOWARDS THE HELL
Eternal Darkness EP

Self-released (2018)
Rating: 7/10

Merging ashen black metal trudges with doomy traipses comes Towards The Hell, quite literally a trio of youngsters from Radomsko in Poland. This one is limited to just 25 CD copies (although it is also available as a digital download via Bandcamp), so I wanted to give this debut five-track EP a bit of a boost.

Vocalist / guitarist Ereb, guitarist / bassist Thrasher and drummer Askalon have done a more than adequate job of composing a riveting little EP full of menace and gloom.

The opening strains of the title track lead us into a barbed, pallid haze of doom drenched fevers; vocally, Ereb has a scratchy, chesty bark and musically the trio trudges in despondent fashion, labouring in mesmeric fashion through the snows and mastering the art of that arrogant black metal stance. It’s simple yet very effective stuff as it traipses towards its ultimate doom, the drums nodding and hissing while the guitars form a melancholic cold air, everything being filtered through some grey gauze.

‘Black Mass’ scuttles out into the frost with a solitary militant drum and yawning guitar spasm, all instruments coming together to form a filthy trudge while Ereb’s vocal tone changes drastically to a booming command, his stark prayer chiming in tandem to the clank hid compatriots make. “Oh Satan who art in Hell… We invoke you… with this mysterious spell” he chants as the track plods like some tundra mantra, the grim naivety of it adding to its charm as the threesome clearly yearns for satanic adoration in order to piss off the parents.

From such one-dimensional trudging, we then get blasted by the bathtub bashing of ‘Wolf’s Moon’; the guys opting for a more steady black metal approach with those abrasive guitar tones and dissonant bass ‘n’ drum streaks. It’s still rather stubborn in its basic groove, but it works well and the vocals provide a real threat through the blizzard.

‘Sorrow Ov The Immortal Man’ follows, and again we’re force-fed a harsh, stark plod gloom that’s difficult to argue with as another ash-choked melody worms its way beyond that immovable percussive prod. The final cut is a decent cover of Burzum’s ‘Lost Wisdom’ and the band do a very good job of mimicking that grotesque slog, but on the whole the EP does have a gnarly, rough atmosphere.

Beware then guys of any sort of cleaner influences or dynamics creeping in, because for now Eternal Darkness is certainly barking up the right tree in regards to its colourless vision. It’s a shame then that only 25 physical copies are available, but any fan out there of mid-paced, barking black metal should spread the word of this promising threesome.

Neil Arnold

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