Some black metal albums have crunchy hooks and tight songs. The Inveterate Fire feels more like jazz. The tracks are long and unfold over several sequential melodies or themes.
There are advantages to this style. It can feel organic, and I find that albums like this hold up well to repeated listens. But there is one unfortunate side effect, which is that individual tracks aren't so memorable. A track feels like a meander through a park, rather than a blast of genius. I remember bits of each of the tracks, but the tracks as a whole are hard to visualize.
Unsurprisingly, The Inveterate Fire took a while to grow on me. At first, it felt like a formless mess. But there are moments of inspiration that, even on first listen, surprised me. I love everything from 6:20 to 8:30 on "Kindled," or the quiet opening to "Beckoning Sun." The end of "Beckoning Sun" reminds me of Deafheaven--the part of Deafheaven I like. It nails the weird mix of shoegaze and black metal.
This album is too formless and meandering to get the highest possible rating from me, but I think it conjured a compelling atmosphere, and had lots of moments that captured my attention.
Comments
If you'd like to comment, you need to be logged in. See the nav bar at the top. If you don't have an account, I'd love to create one for you! Just email me.