Label: War Anthem Records
Date: May 14th, 2021
These guys were capable of moving mountains with their sonority the last time I checked. Unfortunately, I’ve managed to miss their last album and just got the new one for evaluation. And let me tell you one thing. Balmog means business.
This album is seriously heavy sounding. I can imagine trumpets at Jericho sounding something like this. Black metal is still somewhat of a foundation for the sound of this Spanish monument of a band. However, one should not be fooled into thinking this is yet another follower of Scandinavian legacy. Not by a long shot. Balmog has succeeded in creating their own, absolutely unique soundscape and they are now running free of any shackles of genre.
Don’t take the next thing I’m about to write the wrong way, but “Eve” is the ultimate achievement of droning black metal. Take drone as a signpost for the extremes of heaviness this act has achieved. Also, some of these twisted, psychedelic guitar passages might lead you in that general direction.
On the other hand, there are a bunch of doom metal fragments thrown into the mix, making “Eve” a nerve shattering and claustrophobic atmospheric piece. Likewise, this cave like aura that encompasses the tunes emanating from this album brings forth the feeling of uneasiness and impending danger. Somewhat like a soundtrack to some of Lovecraft’s adventures of imagination.
Though the album varies in speed and tempo, as do the songs from within, you get this impression that Balmog is moving glacially slow, but with no lesser power than the dissolving plates of ice. You know damn well what happens in those Lovecraft’s pieces when the ice melts sufficiently. As it seems, the Spaniards are working on just that, even if they do not draw direct influences from the most famous son of Providence.
“Eve” is a forty minute long invocation. Hence, there is absolutely no need to dive into details or technicality. Everything present on the album serves a higher purpose. And it serves it well. One thing you can do is submit as well. Nothing else.
